USA > Tennessee > A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans, the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume V > Part 21
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survived him a score of years, and died in Nashville, Tennessee, at the home of her son at the advanced age of seventy-six years. When the war for the Union began, Dr. Steel was eleven years old. As the war broke up everything in the South, he was deprived of the advantages of early education, and his childhood and youth were spent amid the tur- bulent scenes of that terrible struggle, and the chaotic reconstruction period that succeeded it. He vividly describes many of these scenes in his lecture on "Home Life in Dixie During the War," which he has delivered nearly a thousand times throughout the United States. It was a severe school in which he was brought up, but it taught him those lessons of self-reliance, fearlessness and energy that have been charac- teristic of his career.
He was nearly grown before he had a chance to attend school; but so well had he been taught at home, and so earnestly had he applied himself to study, that within three years after he left the farm in Mis- sissippi, and while still an under-graduate at Emory and Henry College, in Virginia, he was elected chaplain of the University of Virginia; a very high honor, for at that time the chaplain ranked with the pro- fessors of the University.
Dr. Steel was too young to enter the Confederate army, and got a well-remembered whipping at home for attempting to do so. General Forrest himself turned him over to his mother for salutary discipline, telling her they had "no cradles at the front," and threatening to thrash him himself if he ran away and came. But he was a fiery little "rebel," and to humor him and keep him at home, his parents allowed him to "run the blockade," and smuggle such things through the Yankee lines at Memphis, as were of use to the Confederates. He became an "artful dodger" of blue-coated pickets, and had many thrilling adventures.
When Dr. Steel left home to go to school on his own hook, he started in as a pupil of Miss Maria Anderson, who had a little school in the country, near Memphis. Here he cut cross-ties for what is now the Illinois Central Railroad, roasted his potatoes in the yard, and slept on a straw pallet; and he feels a deep debt of gratitude to the noble young woman who encouraged him, and assisted him to get a start. From this school he went to Memphis, then to Andrew College, at Trenton, Tennessee, where he spent a year. The pastor of the Meth- odist church at Hickman, Kentucky, having died, young Steel was appointed to fill his place, and he was in charge of this church for the year 1870. By saving his salary, he was able to go to college, and on the advice of Bishop McTyeire he decided to enter Emory and Henry. College, in the mountains of Southwestern Virginia. Soon after he entered the college, the health of the Methodist pastor at Abingdon, a town not far from Emory, having failed, young Steel was appointed to take charge of the church in Abingdon. While this put a very heavy
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burden on him it was a very fortunate circumstance. The salary enabled him to continue at college, while his work in Abingdon introduced him to many of the best and most influential people in Virginia. While in Abingdon, too, he met the accomplished lady, Miss Mary Burns, who subsequently became his wife. She was then a teacher in Martha Wash- ington Female College in Abingdon.
It was while he was at Emory and Henry College that Mr. Steel's friends had him elected chaplain of the University of Virginia, where he succeeded the Rev. T. D. Witherspoon, D. D. He spent two years at the university, and while there was happily married to Miss Mary Burns, of Petersburg, Virginia. When he left the university, Mr. Steel was appointed to Broad Street Methodist church in Richmond, Virginia, where he spent three years. Then he was sent to Columbus, Mississippi, where he remained four years; from there he removed to Memphis, Tennessee.
In 1888, Dr. Steel, who was then the pastor of Walnut Street Meth- odist church, in Louisville, Kentucky, was appointed the Fraternal Dele- gate from the Methodist Episcopal church, South, to the General Con- ference of the Methodist Episcopal church, which met in New York City. His address before that body made a profound impression, and has been pronounced one of the finest examples of fraternal oratory. It was while he lived in Louisville that the wife of his youth, to whom he felt that his success was largely due, was called home .. Four chil- dren had blessed the union, and his mother now took charge of his home.
Four years later, while pastor of McKendree church, Nashville, Tennessee, he was again happily married to Miss Ella Battle Brevard, of Union City, Tennessee. Five children have come to the home as the result of this happy marriage.
In 1894 Dr. Steel, while serving as pastor of West End church in Nashville, was elected by the General Conference, then in session in Memphis, the first general secretary of the Epworth League, and editor of the Epworth Era, the new paper published by the church for the young people. Dr. Steel had had some editorial experience, having edited the Advocate of Missions, and in company with Dr. Galloway, afterward Bishop Galloway, the Southern Prohibitionist, at Colum- bus, Mississippi. This was the first paper published in the South to advocate the prohibition of the liquor traffic. Dr. Steel's editorial management of The Epworth Era, gave that paper a reputation for vivacity, spirit and aggressiveness, such as few religious journals acquire. Indeed, he put so much fire and ginger in it, that it got him into serious trouble with the authorities of his church, and they had him up and tried him. He was entirely too independent to edit a church "organ," and retired from the official tripod at the next General Conference. When his term as Epworth League secretary ended, Dr. Steel spent several years on the lecture platform, where he achieved enviable fame
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as a popular speaker, especially on themes connected with the war for the Union. In 1898 he accepted the presidency of Logan Female Col- lege, at Russellville, Kentucky. From there he went to Lumberton, Mississippi, where he operated for a time the Lamar Manual Labor School. This school failed for lack of funds, but had an important influence in starting the splendid system of industrial schools now conducted by the state. After a brief connection with educational work in Oklahoma, Dr. Steel re-entered the work of the pastorate, and was appointed to Brownwood, Texas. He was called to take charge of the old Memphis Conference Female Institute, located at Jackson, Tennes- see. He remained here, however, only a year, for he was needed more in the pastoral work of his church, for which he has always shown a special fitness; and he was appointed to his present position, as pastor of the leading Methodist church in Columbia, South Carolina.
Dr. Steel received the degree of Master of Arts, pro causa honoris, from Emory and Henry College in 1881, and that of Doctor of Divinity from Emory College, Oxford, Georgia, in 1884.
Dr. Steel has been greatly blessed in his family, and notwithstanding his extensive travels, he is decidedly a home-loving man. His oldest child is the wife of Mr. John Harvey Creighton, who at present is the efficient secretary of the Y. M. C. A. in Roanoke, Virginia. His second child is the Rev. Edward Marvin Steel, a talented young preacher of the Tennessee Conference, stationed at present at Lewisburg, Tennessee. His third child, beautiful Christine, died in 1898, at the early age of fourteen. The fourth, Miss Miriam, is a teacher in Collegio Isabella Hendrix, in Bello Horozonte, Brazil. The children of the second mar- riage are: Thomas Brevard, now in college, and the four girls, Gerald, Virginia, Ella Lee, and Chloe Louise, who make up the happy home circle in South Carolina.
WILLIAM HENRY SNEED. The bar of the state, and of east Tennessee in particular, has had no more conspicuous name during the past seventy cr more years than that of Sneed. Ability, personality, character and fine achievement have so long been associated with the name that it has be- come synonymous with those qualities in the minds of certainly the great majority of members of the profession in Tennessee as well as with thousands of citizens. Beginning in the decade of the '30s and continu- ing to the end of the '60s one of the very ablest lawyers of east Ten- nessee, and the associate of many of the eminent men of the time, was William H. Sneed. The mantle of his dignity and ability later fell upon his son, Judge Joseph W. Sneed, who for upwards of forty years has borne a prominent part in public affairs and as a lawyer and judge in Knoxville and vicinity.
At a recent meeting of the bar association of the state, held at the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, the Hon. William A. Henderson deliv-
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ered an address entitled : "Some of the Lawyers of East Tennessee Who Are Being Forgotten." Among others he gave his reminiscences of Col. William H. Sneed. These memories form a delightful portrait of a splendid character, whose record is an enduring honor to the history of the Tennessee bar, and for this reason the portion of the address per- taining to Colonel Sneed will be presented here practically as delivered.
"I now draw your attention to Col. William H. Sneed. To revive the memory of him will be interesting to you, and a labor of love for me. I probably knew him better than any man now living.
"For a quarter of a century Colonel Sneed was in the forefront of the distinguished lawyers of east Tennessee. In his time and in that re- gion there was a very able bar. Tennessee lawyers have always taken 'high rank. From wide experience and observation, I know of none better in the United States. Among his associates were R. J. Mckinney, Thomas A. R. Nelson, Landon C. Haynes, Horace Maynard, Thomas C. Lyon, James R. Cocke, Dan Trewhitt, Walter R. Evans, S. B. Boyd, O. P. Temple, Thomas D. Arnold, David M. Key, James T. Shields, John Baxter, and others.
"Colonel Sneed was born in Davidson county about the year 1812. Although an educated man, he was not a college man. In early man- hood he read law with Charles Ready, at Murfreesboro, and soon became his partner. In the early forties he was elected to the state senate, and became intimately acquainted with the members from the 'Hill Country of Judea,' as a result of which he located at Greenville, Tennessee. He married at Murfreesboro, and a daughter was born, a beautiful girl who lived many years in Nashville. After moving to Greenville a daughter of Dr. Williams, a prominent man in that locality, became his second wife. He left as children Judge Joseph Sneed, whom you all know as an able lawyer; Thomas Sneed, a business man of Memphis; Mrs. Kate Sneed Jones, of Washington ; and Mrs. Fannie Eldridge, of Mississippi. All are living except the eldest daughter.
"I think Colonel Sneed was the handsomest man I ever knew. He was more than good looking. Every excellence of manhood may be com- pressed into one word, and that word is strength ; so the opposite may be expressed in the one word weakness. The most terse illustration of a mere manikin is in the question so well known to all of you: 'What went you out for to see-a reed shaken by the wind ?' Perfect manhood is strength of body, strength of mind, strength of soul. It is a trinity, as most things are on earth and in heaven. Colonel Sneed was of medium height, broad shouldered, deep chested, of heavy build, and with a quick, strong, positive walk. In everything he was intense. Like every strong man, he had many warm friends, and a few bitter enemies. Show me a man without enemies, and I will show you a man of little account. His partners in business in east Tennessee were, first. Judge Mckinney, then Judge Temple, then Mr. Cocke, a great-grandson of William Cocke,
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and still later myself, until I became a soldier. I first knew him when I was a boy. He always called me 'Will,' and continued to do so until the death-bed. As a young man I became more intimate with him.
"He had a heavy suit of hair which rebelled like a lion's mane, and was white as wool. His appearance would indicate that his individuality came largely from his mother. For one term he was a Whig member of Congress, and the ardent supporter of that 'Harry of the West.' He was a conspicuous candidate for the supreme bench against his late partner, Chief Justice McKinney-that grand old judge known to the members of the bar as 'Old Strictissimus.' It is said that Colonel Sneed was de- feated by only one vote. It is an interesting fact that many contests of this kind in this country have been decided by a majority of but a single vote in the legislative bodies. Like most Whigs, as the rebellion ap- proached, he was a strong Union man, and took a prominent part in the ensuing campaign. But when Tennessee finally seceded he followed her behests and espoused her cause. When the federal troops approached Knoxville, under Burnside, he refugeed to Liberty (now Bedford City), Virginia, with his family, and remained there until the end of the war. He then returned to Knoxville and, until his death, spent the most of his time in gathering together the fragments of a large estate which had been nearly devoured by the cupidity and animosities of war.
"He never sought to re-enter the general practice. In the various partnerships in which he engaged, certainly the last one, he spent most of his time in equity practice and in the supreme court, although he did much nisi prius work. Far beyond the average lawyer, he gave time and labor to the preparation of his cases. He was at his desk early and late. Every document was scrutinized, every witness interviewed, and he went into battle armed cap-a-pie. He took a professional pride in never asking for a continuance of a case, and always resisted such applications from his opponents or from his partners. His manner of argument was loud and intense, with that eloquence that always flows from a settled be- lief in the justice and truth of one's insistence. He had a habit, in his delivery, of tapping the palm of his left hand with the forefinger of his right, as if nailing attention to his point. The man who believes his own contention is always eloquent. This addiction of his mind was so strong that he would never take the opposite view of any question from that which he had entertained in some other independent case. Many times I have heard him say: 'I am on record against such a view of the law in some stated case.'
"Another peculiarity of Colonel Sneed's life as a lawyer was that he would never prosecute a criminal case. His theory was that when the state alleged a violation of her law by one of her citizens, outsiders should have no place in securing a conviction. For myself, I think this is a good theory, but sometimes faulty practice. I have not always followed his teachings in this regard. But all the law-breakers agreed with him. Vol. V-12
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As an examiner of witnesses, and in the high art of cross-examination, he was a marked success. His whole manner indicated a desire to un- ravel and untangle the truth, and, in handling witnesses, he was as kind as a mother talking to her boy. But when he detected fraud, he could be as cruel as a surgeon's scalpel. His manner toward the court showed an honest effort to discover and enforce the law, as an assistant to the judge. As to the jury he was always 'in the box,' as the thirteenth man.
"More than any lawyer I ever knew, he had the art and courage of how to charge a fee. His fees were higher than those of his associates, but I never heard of any dissatisfaction or disagreement on the part of his clients in that behalf. The bar does not seem to appreciate the fundamental principle of humanity to value a thing by the measure of its price. This is the reason why gold is more precious than iron, and the diamond than the garnet. Let me illustrate this by a reminiscence :
"During the prime of Colonel Sneed's life as a lawyer, the county of Campbell, in East Tennessee, was torn asunder by the case of Miller versus Dossett. The litigants were prominent and well-to-do farmers of that country. Each owned a cow, and these cows resembled each other in appearance. Each cow had a calf, and these calves were very much alike also. The animals were being pastured on a small island in Powell's river, when one night a sudden freshet came and one of the calves was washed away. The remaining calf, having some doubt as to his nativity, or possibly from purely selfish motives, then cultivated the habit of sucking both cows. The question involved in the suit was the ownership of the calf. The two old friends became bitter enemies, and went to law. There were actions and cross-actions, of replevin and detinue, in- dictments for larceny, and several actions for libel and slander, all choking the dockets of the roaring courthouse at Jacksboro. The country took sides like Highland clans. The best lawyers in that end of the state gathered to that feast. On one side were Colonel Sneed, Judge Boyd, Judge Young, Mr. Evans, and other lieutenants; on the other, Horace Maynard, Joseph B. Heiskell, John Netherland, and other lieutenants. After years of hard-fought litigation Colonel Sneed was unsuccessful in his cause, but charged a fee of five thousand dollars, which was cheerfully paid. Horace Maynard and his associates gained the cases, and he received a fee of twenty-five dollars. His explanation was that his actual fee was ten thousand dollars, but all except the twenty-five dollars was paid in glory. *
"The testimonial of respect paid Colonel Sneed by the bar of East Tennessee, and the high esteem in which he was held by his brother lawyers, as a man, citizen and lawyer, is evidenced by the memorial pre- sented at the time of his demise, in the supreme court room at the September term, 1869, of that court. These proceedings have been per- petuated by being published at the end of the sixth volume of Caldwell's Reports. It is worthy of note that at this meeting, Thomas D. Arnold,
Fordneed
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the senior member of the bar, presided; James W. Deadrick, afterwards chief justice of the supreme court, was chairman of the committee on resolutions ; and John Baxter and Thomas A. R. Nelson acted as secre- taries. Colonel Sneed has also received honorable mention in Caldwell's 'Bench and Bar of Tennessee,' page 299. At the time of his death, September, 1869, his brother members of the bar took suitable and appro- priate action commemorative of his life and avocation, which are pub- lished at the end of Vol. VI, Caldwell's Tennessee Reports.
"If you were to select a few of the big lawyers of Tennessee he would be located within the glorious circle of its pride. As a man in political office, he was a patriot of renown; as a citizen he was a born leader of men ; the escutcheon of his private life went to the tomb without a stain on its face. As a husband and father he was the soul of love. Colonel Sneed's name has been crystallized in the name of Sneedville, in Hancock county.
"This is a truthful memoir from a friend. What more can tongue or pen say ?"
(This article by Mr. Henderson was written May 22, 1911.)
JUDGE JOSEPH WILLIAM SNEED. A few years after the death of Col. W. H. Sneed, his eldest son, Joseph W., gained his first laurels in the law and public affairs, and now for many years has been one of the eminent citizens of Knoxville and East Tennessee, in which time he has held many positions of trust and honor at the hands of the people.
Judge Sneed is a native of Knox county, and received his education at the old East Tennessee University, now known as the University of Tennessee. After the military department was added to the university, he was the first adjutant of the cadets, having been appointed by Captain Mariner, who was the first commandant.
His public career began with a short term as member of the municipal council of Knoxville. In 1886 he was the first city attorney elected under the charter which has just been abandoned for the commission form of government, and was successively elected to this position for four years.
In 1891 Judge Sneed was appointed criminal judge by Governor Buchanan, being at that time thirty-six years of age, his appointment being to fill the unexpired term of Judge S. T. Logan. As criminal judge he stood for election in 1892, and was successful over a Houk Re- publican, M. F. Caldwell, by 503 majority.
In 1894 he competed for the honors of the circuit judgeship. His opponent was Judge S. T. Logan, and he won the race by a majority of 457. This was a unique political achievement, for he was the only Democrat elected that year to any office, save in some of the minor posi- tions, like constable or justice of the peace, and the election covered prac- tically all the county offices.
In 1902 Judge Sneed was re-elected circuit judge by a majority of
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1,261. In the last half century no other Democratic candidate for judicial honors in this part of the state has been so distinctly honored as Judge Sneed. No other Democratic nominee has been elected to a judicial position by entire East Tennessee constituents since before the war, during the decade of the fifties. Yet on all the three occasions of his candidacy he accepted his nomination from the Democratic party and was its unequivocal candidate throughout the campaigns.
In 1901, just prior to his last election, the legislature designated the circuit judge to hold the chancery court for Knox county, which posi- tion Judge Sneed filled up to the year 1909. When the courts of the state were redistricted in 1899, Judge Sneed was assigned to hold the circuit court of Sevier county, and he tried both civil and criminal cases for that county. Also by the act of 1899 he was again assigned to the criminal court of Knox county. Thus from 1899 to 1901 he held the circuit and criminal court of Knox county and the circuit court of Sevier county, and continued to hold them until 1902, and from 1901 to 1907 held all the courts of Knox county. After the election of 1902 he was relieved of the court in Sevier county, though this, to only a small degree, lightened the arduous labors of his judicial responsibilities.
During a considerable part of his career as judge the cases that passed under his review numbered in the aggregate more than two thousand each year. It required not only a strong constitution but also legal and executive ability of a high order to dispatch all this business. Despite the demands of this almost unremitting labor, the record of Judge Sneed stands in high light both in the quality and permanence of his decisions. It has been often said of him, and with truth, that only few of his cases were ever reversed by the higher courts, and the tribute is all the greater because he held all the courts of his county.
Judge Sneed cast his first presidential vote in 1876 for Tilden and Hendricks, and has voted for every Democratic candidate for president and vice president ever since. He was recently a delegate to the Balti- more convention which nominated Wilson and Marshall, now president and vice president of the United States. On the nomination of Senator Luke Lea he had the honor to be made chairman of the Tennessee dele- gation. After the convention he took the leading part in organizing a Wilson and Marshall Club at Knoxville, and gave his enthusiastic sup- port to the candidates throughout the campaign.
Outside of his political and judicial career Judge Sneed has done much important service for his home city. When a member of the city council in 1885 he took the lead in advocacy of the building of a girls' high school, an institution now located at the corner of Union and Walnut streets that has had a splendid usefulness. He was chairman of the building committee until several private citizens were added to the committee membership, when, because of the presence of older men than
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himself, he voluntarily relinquished the post and Col. W. P. Washburn was appointed chairman.
When the Knox County Reform School was established in 1897, it was provided that the chancellor and circuit judge of the county should appoint the trustees. Judge Lindsay as chancellor and Judge Sneed as circuit judge together made the first appointments. Through the re- districting act of 1899, Judge Lindsay having gone out of office, Judge Sneed made all subsequent appointments of trustees, except one made by Chancellor McClung, until his own retirement from the bench in 1910. The reform school has been so successfully managed that up to the present time no word of just criticism has been passed, and it is con- sidered one of the best managed institutions of the state, as well as one of the most useful. This record is one that reflects high credit upon its trustees, in the first instance, and is also gratifying to the appointing power, for the destiny of the institution depended upon the wisdom ex- ercised in the selection of its governing authorities. Some time after the organization of the institution, it was provided that a board of trustees, composed of women members, should take the management of the girls' department. The selection of these trustees also devolved upon Judge Sneed, and the record of their work in their special depart- ment has been fully as efficient as that made by the board for the entire school.
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