USA > Tennessee > A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans, the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume V > Part 18
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HON JAMES H. BATE. Former state senator from Sumner county, the IIon. James H. Bate well upholds the prestige and dignity of a family which has been notable in Tennessee history for the greater part of a. century. Men of this name have held many high posts in the local and state affairs, one of them being governor and others distinguished in military service. James H. Bate, himself, had a gallant record as a soldier, and was the captain of his company during the Civil war. A number of years he spent in Texas, but he has returned to Sumner county to pass the declining years of his life, and he now has a com- fortable farmstead at Castalian Springs, the old homestead of the family.
James H. Bate was born in Sumner county, Tennessee, October 16, 1841. He is a son of James and Amanda F. (Weathered) Bate. Grand- father Humphrey Bate was a native of North Carolina and he came to Tennessee with his family and became one of the early settlers and farmers of Sumner county, where he spent the remainder of his life. Closely related to the Bate family is the Brimage family. They came from England, and one of the family, Wm. Brimage, served as governor of the Island of Bermuda under appointment from King George III after which he settled in North Carolina.
James Bate, the father, was born in North Carolina, and during young manhood came to Tennessee, where he died in 1842, having spent many years in Sumner county. His business was that of farming, and he owned a large acreage and managed his plantation with slave labor. He was a captain in the Tennessee State Militia. His wife, Amanda Bate, was a daughter of William Weathered, who was a Virginian, and came from that commonwealth into Tennessee. He was one of the successful farmers of this state in the early days. James Bate and wife were the parents of four children, some of whom are distinguished. William B. was formerly United States senator and also governor of Tennessee. Capt. Humphrey Bate, the second son, was killed at the battle of Shiloh while in the command of his company. Elizabeth P., the only daughter, became the wife of Major E. P. Tyree, who was a major in the service during the Civil war. The other is James H. Bate, the subject of this sketch.
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The last named received his education in the Rural Academy of Sumner county, after which he spent two years in Bethany College, of West Virginia, the famous old school in the Pan Handle of that state, established by Alexander Campbell, the founder of the Christian denom- ination. The outbreak of the Civil war found him in pursuit of knowl- edge at this institution and he at once entered the army as a private, but in 1863 was made captain. He was first under fire at Aquia Creek, also fought at the first battle of Manassas, and was in the first regiment to reenlist for service. As a veteran he participated in the battle of Chickamauga, the battle of Missionary Ridge and several other of the important engagements which marked the struggles of the northern and southern armies in the southern half of the Confederacy. His experience as a soldier continued for four years, during the entire period of the war.
After returning from the field of battle, his home for five years was in Memphis, where he was employed as a collector for one of the wealthy men of the city. This was followed by a farming experience, after which he went to El Paso, Texas, being a passenger on the first railroad train run into that city, which was in about 1881. He has the distinction of having constructed the first international street railroad in the state of Texas, and edited one of the first papers in the western part of that state. During his residence of five years in Texas he accumulated a good deal of money by his different ventures, and then returned to Sumner county, which has been his home to the present time. He is the owner of three hundred acres of land comprising the old Bate homestead near Castilian Springs. The old place where he was born and with which are connected so many family associations was built in 1840.
Mr. Bate was married in 1897 to Rebecca Allen, the daughter of Van Allen, who was one of the prosperous farmers of Sumner county. The two sons of their marriage are William B. and Francis X., both of whom are school boys. Mrs. Bate is a member of the Presbyterian church, while his church is the Baptist. Politically he is a Democrat, and in 1897 represented the county in the lower house of the legislature, and in 1898 was returned as a state senator.
HON. MARCUS D. RICKMAN, of Hartsville, farmer, miller and mem- ber of the state legislature, is a native son of Tennessee and a descendant of two of the state's most worthy pioneer families. His paternal grand- father, Mark Rickman, was a native of North Carolina. During the Revolutionary war he served under Gen. Nathaniel Greene, and at the close of that conflict received a grant of land in Tennessee for his mili- tary services. He removed to Tennessee in 1787, and his daughter, Nancy Rickman, was the first female white child born in the city of Nashville. His son, Samuel H., the father of Marcus D., was born in Sumner county, Tennessee, in 1805, and passed his life upon the farm where he was born, his death occurring in 1892. He was a successful man and at one time
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was the owner of about fifty negroes. He served as colonel in the state militia, was widely known, popular and well respected, was a Democrat in his political convictions, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He married Frances E. Henry, a native of Sumner county, where she was born in 1829, a daughter of Jack H. Henry, also a native of that county, and a granddaughter of William Henry, who came to Tennessee from Virginia when the region now included in Sumner county was a wilderness. The only settlement of consequence in that section of the state at that time was the one at Castalian Springs. The Henry family is of Irish extraction. Jack H. Henry served in the Semi- nole war. He was a Methodist Episcopal minister for many years and died at the age of eighty-two years. Ten children were born to Samuel H. and Frances E. Rickman, five of whom are still living. The mother died in 1897. Like her husband and father, she was a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church and was popular among her neighbors for her many little acts of Christian charity.
Marcus D. Rickman, the second child of the family, was born in Sumner county, Tennessee, August 18, 1849. He was educated in the public schools of his native county and began life on the farm. About 1880 he embarked in the sawmilling business, and in 1896 he built a model flour mill with a capacity of one hundred barrels of flour daily. In con- nection with this mill he also operates a corn mill and ships meal and flour to all the territory within reach of Hartsville. Notwithstanding his active operations as a miller, he has always retained his interest in agriculture. Although he is classed as a Democrat, he is rather inclined to be independent in his political views. Since he was twenty-two years of age he has served as a magistrate. In 1909 he was elected a member of the state legislature, and in 1912 was reelected. While in the legisla- ture he served upon the important committees on agriculture, redistrict- ing the state for members of the general assembly, and banking and commerce. To the office of legislator he brought the same careful methods that have distinguished him in his conduct of his private affairs, and the interests of his constitutents were always faithfully guarded in the sup- port of bills that would promote their general prosperity or the defeat of measures that he regarded as inimical to their welfare. Mr. Rickman is a member of the Masonic fraternity and has served his lodge as wor- shipful master. The teachings of this time-honored order form the basis of his ideals of good citizenship, and the tenets of brotherly love, relief and truth constitute a guide for his daily life and relations with his fel- low men. He and his estimable wife are both members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
In 1873 Mr. Rickman married Miss Ella Mills, a daughter of Lewis G. Mills, a lifelong farmer of Sumner county. Two children have been born to this marriage. Mattie L. is now the wife of H. C. Smith, of Nashville, and Roy M. is associated with his father in the milling business.
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NATHAN GREEN, LL.D. There is probably no better known name in the legal circles of the South than that of Judge Nathan Green, for fifty-seven years identified with the law department of Cumberland University, that illustrious institution where so many of America's most prominent men have received their legal education, his last twelve years' service being as dean of the law department. His father, for a number of years a professor of Cumberland University law department, and one of the most eminent jurists of Tennessee, was a supreme court judge twenty-five years, and was chancellor of this state for several years. Judge Grafton Green, only son of the subject of this sketch, is now one of the presiding judges on the supreme bench of Tennessee. For more than a half century Judge Nathan Green has had a large part in shaping the character of the legal talent of Tennessee, which is of an exceptionally high order, and for emulation he has given to the thousands of students that have come under his charge the example of an upright life, of talents employed to their fullest extent in useful, worthy and noble service for the advancement of humanity, and of a citizenship that in all its phases has marked him as one of America's noblemen. Now eighty-six years of age, the gloom of the deepening shadows of his life's twilight is dispelled by the consciousness of a life well spent and by the wealth of sincere and devoted friendships which are his.
The Greens come of Virginia Revolutionary stock and have borne a prominent part in the military life of our country as well as in law, having been represented in the Revolution, the second struggle for American independence, the Mexican war and the Civil war.
Judge Nathan Green was born in Franklin county, Tennessee, Feb- ruary 19, 1827, a son of Nathan and Mary (Feild) Green. The father, a Virginian by nativity, was born in 1792 and died in Lebanon, Tennes- see, in 1866. The mother, born in North Carolina in 1792, was a daugh- ter of James Field, a lifelong resident of North Carolina, and her death occurred in 1849. The senior Nathan Green grew to manhoood in Vir- ginia and received his education there, including his preparation for the profession he followed throughout life and in which he became so eminent, that of law. He came to Tennessee in 1812 and it was not long afterward until he became chancellor of the state, subsequently serving from 1827 to 1852 as a judge of the supreme court of this state. He was yet filling that honorable position when he resigned to take a profes- sorship in the law department of Cumberland University, with which institution he was thereafter identified until his death. He was first a Whig and then a Democrat in political sentiment, was identified frater- nally with the Masonic order, and was a soldier in the war of 1812. He and his wife were both devoted members of the Cumberland Presby- terian church and he was also an elder of his church. Of the eight chil- dren that came to their union, our subject is the only one yet living. Their eldest son, one of the brave, aggressive and distinguished Confed-
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erate soldiers of the Civil war, is mentioned in the Confederate Military History as follows :
"Brig .- Gen. Thomas Green, beloved and honored by everybody as a man, the chevalier of Texas soldiery, whose training as a soldier was commenced at San Jacinto and was perfected as captain of cavalry in Indian warfare and at Monterey in Mexico, and whose flag floated in the ascendant in every battle in Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico where his sword was drawn, determined to capture the enemy's gunboats on Red river. In the attempt at Blair's Landing, April 12, 1864, his valu- able life was given to his country, on the banks of the river, while lead- ing his men to the onset. His name had been a household word in Texas, and his fame is still cherished in memory throughout the state that he honored in his life." Major-General Banks, commanding the Federal army during that engagement, in his report to General Sherman, said : "General Green was killed by the fire of the gunboats of the 12th ; he was the ablest officer in their service."
Thomas Green, the grandfather of him of whom we write, was also a native Virginian, a very wealthy planter of that state, and served in the patriot army during the Revolution.
Judge Nathan Green was educated in Cumberland University and was graduated from the liberal arts department in 1845, with high honors. In 1847 he was one of the first seven students to enter the law department of Cumberland University, this department being estab- lished Jan. 9, 1847, by Judge Abraham Caruthers, who resigned a seat on the State bench to accept the position. Judge Green graduated from the law school in 1849, and in 1845 his father, Judge N. Green, Sr., resigned a seat on the State bench and responded to an urgent call from Judge Caruthers to assist him with the work of the law department. Shortly thereafter in 1856 Lebanon's honored citizen was elected a professor of law in the law department, which position he has held continuously ever since, and today has the honor and distinction of being the oldest teachers in the state. The three gentlemen mentioned above continued as the faculty of the law department until the breaking out of the war in 1861.
Judge Green was among the first to respond to the call of arms, and a braver and more courageous man never shouldered a musket than was he, and his war record is one any man would be proud of. He soon distinguished himself by his bravery and daring, and won immediate recognition from his superiors in rank. He was made an adjutant general and staff officer under Gen. A. P. Stewart during the early part of the war. During the latter part of the war he served as superintend- ent of the engineering works and came through the entire conflict unscathed.
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Immediately after the close of the war Judge Green came back to Lebanon and to his great sorrow found his alma mater in ashes. The fine college building located in the southern part of Lebanon in the center of a large campus was used during the war as barracks for the soldiers. A Confederate soldier, who had attended the college, became incensed at it being occupied by negroes, filled one room with cedar rails one night and applied the torch, destroying the entire property. Undaunted by the great disaster that had befallen his alma mater, Judge Green immediately set about to re-establish the school, which he succeeded in doing under great difficulties and got together about twenty students, all of whom were either Confederate or Federal soldiers, and among that number was Judge Horace Lurton and Capt. R. P. McClain, a prominent member of the Lebanon bar here.
In 1866 Judge Green, Sr., died and Hon. Henry Cooper succeeded to his position. Judge Cooper resigned in 1868 when Judge Robt. L. Caruthers was called to the position, and he, too, resigned a seat on the Supreme Bench. Judge Caruthers resigned in 1881 and died the fol- lowing year and was succeeded to the professorship in the law school by Dr. Andrew B. Martin, and he, together with Judge Green, has conducted the school continuously ever since. Judge Green is the oldest. teacher in the State of Tennessee and has the distinction and honor of having taught more law students than any other living man. In numerous instances has he taught both the father and in after years his son. Cum- berland University has the honor of having had more men to graduate from its Law Department that have made themselves prominent and famous in the affairs of both Nation and State than any other institu- tion in the country, and today its graduates are to be found in both branches of Congress and on the Supreme benches of Tennessee, Ala- bama, Florida, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Oregon and Montana. Judge Green was also chancellor of the university from 1873 until he resigned from the position in 1900. Nature was kind to him in her bestowal of a most vigorous intellect and that faculty which grasps as it were by intuition, the salient points of any subject presented for con- sideration. He has always been a man of liberal and broad views, of genial disposition and generous impulses, and of spotless integrity. In all the relations of life he has honorably and faithfully performed his duty. In political affairs he has always been an adherent of the Demo- cratic party, and like his father, he has long been affiliated with the Ma- sonic fraternity. He has also attained prominence as a litterateur through the authorship of two books, "The Tall Man of Winton" and "Sparks from a Back Log," both of much literary merit and of large circulation.
Judge Green has been twice married. In 1850 he wedded Miss Betty McClain, daughter of J. S. McClain, and of the children of this union three are living : Ella, the wife of Judge W. Caldwell, of West
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Tennessee; Mattie, who became Mrs. Reagan Houston, and resides in San Antonio, Texas; and Grafton Green, a graduate of Cumberland University, and who as judge of the supreme court of Tennessee is ably upholding the remarkable prestige of the family name for legal ability and attainment. The wife and mother died July 4, 1893. She was a valued member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. In 1902 Judge Green married Miss Blanche Woodward, who passed away in 1910. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, U. S. A., and is an elder of his church at Lebanon.
Judge Green's old colonial home, one of the handsomest in Lebanon, was destroyed by fire several years ago, which came as a severe blow to him owing to the fact that many tender memories associated with the old building, which has since been replaced with a handsome modern brick bungalow. Judge Green is a lover of the beautiful, both in nature and life, and very fond of flowers, dahlias and sweet peas being his favorites, and his favorite pastime in the morning and afternoon is working his flowers in his flower garden near the house.
The 1912 graduating law class presented the university with life-size portraits of both Judge Green and Dr. Martin, which were hung on either side of the stage at Caruthers Hall and between which hangs a life-size portrait of Judge Abraham Caruthers, founder of the Lebanon Law School, presented to the university by Judge Green a number of years ago. The young men of the 1913 law class recently presented Judge Green with a handsome silver loving cup on the occasion of the celebra- tion of his eighty-sixth birthday. On the same day the members of the Sunday school of the Presbyterian church surprised him with a delight- ful reception held in his honor in the main auditorium of the church.
Such is the brief review of one of the most eminent and respected of Tennessee's citizens. His life has been one of noble ambition and char- acter, of superior intellect and education fittingly-applied in all his endeavors and has made a deep impress for noble manhood and unfalter- ing integrity upon the annals of Tennessee. In conclusion is quoted a paragraph that recently appeared in a Tennessee paper :
Though Lebanon's most honored and revered citizen has already passed the eighty-sixth milestone in the path of life, yet to look at his erect and dignified bearing and manner both in public and private life, every movement of which bespeaks the refinement and bearing of a true Southern gentleman, one would easily judge him to be many years younger than he really is and for the past twenty years there has been no appreciable or noticeable lessening in his vigor and vitality, and his friends here and over the entire United States, who are legion, wish for him that the hourglass of life has yet many, many more years of life allotted him before it has run its course and that the days and hours of which may be filled with unalloyed happiness, pleasure and content- ment, which he so richly deserves.
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JOSEPH E. FAUST. A large number of the Tennessee pioneers came from Virginia. Among them were Joseph and Betsy Faust, who settled on a farm and there passed the remainder of their lives. They were of German extraction, industrious and frugal, and assisted in reclaiming . the land from the wilderness. Their son, Joseph E. Faust, was born in Wilson county, Tennessee, August 5, 1824, received such an education as the schools of that early day afforded, and learned the trade of mill- wright. His life was passed in Wilson, Smith and Macon counties, where he was regarded as a useful citizen and a measurably successful man, though he suffered severe losses from floods in 1865 and 1882. He was a Democrat in his political belief and a member of the Masonic fraternity. His death occurred in Macon county in April, 1905. He married Mary Kearley, who was born in Smith county, Tennessee, in 1838, the daughter of William Kearley, a prominent physician and farmer and one of the well-to-do men of that day. She died in October, 1912, at Lafayette. Seven children born to Joseph E. and Mary (Kearley) Faust are still living, viz; John B., a miller at Lafayette; Ada, wife of W. L. Chamber- lain, of Lafayette; Thos. E., an attorney of Lafayette; Nettie, wife of James Loftis, of Cookville; Dr. William D., who is practicing his profes- sion at Ada, Oklahoma ; Joseph E., the immediate subject of this review ; Oscar L., who is engaged in the lumber business at Memphis.
Joseph E. Faust, son of Joseph E. and Mary Faust, was born in Smith county, Tennessee, January 18, 1868. After attending the com- mon schools of Macon and Trousdale counties he matriculated in the law department of Cumberland University, where he was graduated with the class of 1890. Shortly after receiving his degree he began the practice of his profession at Hartsville, Tennessee, where he is still located. By close attention to his business and a conscientious discharge of his duties to his clients he has succeeded in building up a lucrative practice, which extends to all the state and Federal courts. While he has many friends among his brother attorneys, he has never formed a partnership with any one, preferring to conduct his cases in his own way. In this way he has developed a strong, self-reliant character that has placed him among the leading members of the local bar.
Mr. Faust is a firm believer in the principles and policies of the Demo- cratic party, and in every campaign for several years he has rendered that party efficient service as a public speaker. He has served three terms in the state legislature, where he was always on the alert with re- gard to measures that would further the interests of his constituents, and he has also filled the position of clerk of the chancery court. But in whatever capacity he has been called to serve-as lawyer, legislator or public official-he has never shirked his duty. Beginning life with small means, without the aid of influential friends or favoritism in any way, he has achieved success through his own efforts and a careful considera- tion of the rights of his fellow men.
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Mr. Faust's fraternal relations are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. In the latter order he has passed through the chairs and is a past chancellor. In church matters he has adopted the faith of his mother and holds membership in the Bap- tist church.
In February, 1891, Mr. Faust married Miss Fannie Allan, daughter of Arch. Allan, a prominent citizen of Trousdale county, where he was engaged in the livery business. He served several terms as sheriff of the county and as township trustee, and was also engaged as a mail con- tractor. Mr. and Mrs. Faust are the parents of the following children : Allan, Lizzie, Rupert, Ethel Frances and Mary H. All are attending school except the eldest and youngest.
LYTLE DALTON. Back in the colonial days the English government gave a grant of land in Tennessee to Lord Dalton. This grant he trans- ferred to his sons, who settled in what is now Sumner county, and they became the founders of the Dalton family in Tennessee. About the be- ginning of the nineteenth century a man named Ball came from Virginia to Tennessee with his family. His son, Lytle Ball, who was born at Harts- ville in the year 1820, married Eliza Ann Holt, and this couple were the maternal grandparents of the subject of this sketch. Lytle Ball was a farmer all his life and for forty years held the office of constable. The paternal grandparents, R. C. and Mary S. (Carson) Dalton, were born in Tennessee. The grandmother is still living near Hartsville at the age of ninety-four years, and is active for one of her age. J. R. Dalton, the father of Lytle Dalton, was born and reared in Trousdale county, Ten- nessee. During the Civil war he served for three years as a member of General Forrest's celebrated cavalry command, being twice wounded while in the service. At the close of the war he returned home and resumed his vocation of farmer. He married Agnes Ball, a native of Trousdale county, and to this union were born twelve children, eleven of whom are still living. In 1905 the parents removed to Oklahoma, where they at present reside, retired from active business cares and enjoying the fruits of their labors of former years. J. R. Dalton has been a lifelong Demo- crat in his political opinions, but was never an aspirant for public hon- ors. His wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
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