USA > Tennessee > A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans, the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume V > Part 22
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Since the expiration of his third term of office, on September 1, 1910, Judge Sneed has devoted himself to the practice of his profession. He enjoys a generous share of the legal business in his home city and vicinity, and is regarded as one of the strongest members of the present Knoxville bar.
JOHN WILLIAM SEATON. A man of integrity and honor and one well worthy of the high regard in which he is held throughout the community in which he lives is John William Seaton, of Linden, now clerk of the circuit court in Perry county and for eighteen years prominently identi- fied with educational work in that county. He is a native of Gibson county, Tennessee, where he was born March 1, 1873. Ryan Seaton, his grandfather, was one of the many immigrants to Tennessee from the older commonwealth of North Carolina, his advent here having been made during the forepart of the last century. He was a soldier in the War of 1812 and fought with Gen. Andrew Jackson at the battle of New Orleans. Prior to leaving North Carolina he was married to a Miss Stinson, and on coming to this state located with his family near Pulaski, Giles county, where the remainder of his career was spent as a farmer. He and his wife reared five children, of which family John Green Seaton, the father of John William, was second in birth. John Green Seaton was born in Maury county, Tennessee, May 15, 1840, and there received such educational discipline as the common schools of the period afforded. He
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was numbered among the gallant sons of Tennessee that fought to sustain the southern cause during the Civil war. In Maury county, in 1872, he was married to Miss Lou Bell, who was born in Lawrence county, this state, June 9, 1848. To this union were born five sons, as follows: John William Seaton of this review ; Smith B .; James T .; Benjamin, deceased ; and another that died in infancy. The father died September 26, 1878, and later his widow married M. G. Alley. They are now farmer resi- dents near Humboldt, Gibson county, Tennessee.
John William Seaton was educated in the public schools at Trenton, Tennessee, in Scott's Hill Academy, Henderson county, and at the South- ern Normal University, Huntington, Tennessee. He then took up the profession of teaching and for eighteen years was employed as an in- structor in Perry county and Decatur county. From 1907 to 1909 he was superintendent of public instruction in Perry county and at the same time he continued to be engaged in teaching, as was permissible at that time. In 1910 he was elected clerk of the circuit court in Perry county for a term of four years and is now engaged in that official service. He has also served as a district tax collector in that county.
In 1896 he was united in marriage to Miss Penina Lomax, who is a daughter of John Lomax, a farmer residing near Cedar Creek, Perry county. Six children have been born to this union, namely: Grace, who died in 1898 in her second year; Eugene, who died in 1903 at the age of four; Nettie, O'Dell, John William and Pauline.
In political views Mr. Seaton is a Democrat; in church membership he is identified with the Baptist denomination and is now clerk of the Tennessee Baptist Association.
JAMES WILSON LEWIS. When it is stated that this esteemed citizen of Linden has served as clerk and master of chancery in the Perry county court since 1908, and has been in public service in Perry county in one capacity or another for the last thirty years, further attestation of his worth and standing in that community is unnecessary. Two generations of this family have been native to Tennessee and have sprung from their common ancestor, Aaron Lewis, the grandfather of James Wilson, who was one of the many settlers that came into this state from North Caro- lina in the opening years of the nineteenth century, and who was one of the first settlers in Perry county. Aaron Lewis located first in the Yellow creek district in Dickson county and there was married to Polly Ann Dickson, who bore him ten children. In 1836 he removed with his family to Perry county, locating on Lick creek, about four miles from the Tennessee river. He was one of the first settlers in Perry county and became one of its most prominent men of that time, serving as the first tax collector of that county. William Kennedy Lewis, his son, who was born in the Yellow creek district in Dickson county in 1827, accom- panied the family to Perry county in 1836, and spent the remainder of
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his life there. He received but a meager education and carly took up farming as his vocation, his estate being located along Cypress creek, near the Tennessee river. In the war between the states he espoused the southern cause and as a member of the Forty-second Regiment of Ten- nessee Infantry fought to sustain it. He enlisted as a member of Captain Hulm's company, which was assigned to the Forty-second Tennessee Regiment under command of Gen. W. A. Quarles and in the army of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston. This regiment bore a most gallant part at the battle of Fort Donelson, but was captured there, and Mr. Lewis was one of the prisoners taken to Camp Douglass, where he was held seven months before his exchange was effected. He then rejoined the army at Fort Hudson and continued to serve until the closing year of the war. Return- ing to Perry county he resunted farming and was thereafter engaged in that vocation until his death in 1897. In Perry county, in 1844, he was united in marriage to Miss Susana J. Coleman, who was born in Hickman county in 1829, and died in 1909. They became the parents of six children, the second of whom was James Wilson Lewis of this review. William Walker Lewis, of Hohenwald, Tennessee, is the only other mem- ber of the family yet living.
James Wilson Lewis was born in District No. 2 of Perry county, Tennessee, May 12, 1848. Reared in his native county, he there received a common school education and later became a teacher in the country schools of his vicinity. He was also employed for a time as a clerk in a country store. At the age of twenty-seven he entered into the mer- cantile business with R. J. Howard, under style and firm name of Howard & Lewis, at East Perryville, continuing there until 1880, when he moved to Marsh Creek and was there engaged in the timber business for a short time. His public service began in 1882, when he was elected clerk of the circuit court in Perry county, in which official capacity he served four terms, or sixteen years, and following that he was elected magistrate of the third civil district. On January 1, 1908, he was appointed clerk and master in chancery court in the county of Perry for a term of six years, and is now filling that position. He is a Democrat in his political views.
Mr. Lewis has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Rebecca Josephine Sutton, daughter of James R. Sutton of Perry county, whom he wedded in 1876. At her death on September 23, 1895, at the age of thirty-seven, she left two children : Martha Jane, who is now Mrs. W. J. Bray, of Jackson, Tennessee, and Julia Bertie, who is now the wife of J. C. Ward, of Perry county. In 1897 Mr. Lewis was joined in marriage to Miss Minnie J. Dickson, daughter of J. T. Dickson, of Lick Creek, Perry county. To this union have been born four daughters: Irma Lo- raine, Dorothy May, Mary Inez and Pearl Vivian. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lewis are members of the Methodist Episcopal church South, and are prominent in church work, the former having served as a steward of his
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church for a number of years. His fraternal associations are with the Masonic order as a member of the Linden Lodge No. 210, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and of Linden Chapter No. 156, Royal Arch Masons, and he has served as secretary in both lodges.
GENTRY RICHARD MCGEE. A public citizen of Jackson, Tennessee, whose life of educational service should be given more detailed account than we have data to provide, is Gentry Richard McGee, who recently closed his long pedagogic career and is now living retired. Since he was a lad of twelve years of age he has called Tennessee his home, and in more than one way has nobly served his commonwealth. Born in Ebe- nezer, Mississippi, he was the son of James Gentry McGee, M. D., who spent his entire professional life in that place, and of Mary Ann Ford, who was a native of Pearl River, Mississippi, and a daughter of Rufus Ford. The date of Gentry Richard McGee's birth was September 17, 1840, and he began his life and education as a typical American boy of cultured and well-to-do parents. But in 1850 Dr. McGee's life was cut short by a sudden illness, and within ten days from that time his widow also answered the death summons. Their orphaned son went to the home of a paternal uncle at Trenton, Tennessee, which continued to be his home until he was well launched upon his life's career.
Having received some years of educational training at Ebenezer, Mis- sissippi, young Gentry McGee next entered Gibson Academy at Trenton, under the guidance of his uncle, who was living at that place. After com- pleting the prescribed courses at that school, he matriculated at Andrew College at Trenton, Tennessee, where he passed all courses and examina- tions, entitling him to the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Before he could return, in order that his degree might be conferred upon him, he was withheld by the call for service which was entailed on all patriotic citi- zens by the declaration of war between the North and the South.
Mr. McGee enlisted in May, 1861, with the Twelfth Tennessee In- fantry, under Col. R. M. Russell. He served in most of the battles of the campaign from Missionary Ridge to Atlanta, concluding with the battle of Nashville. A private when he entered the Confederate army, he was in the course of the war raised to the rank of second lieutenant of Company B.
On the conclusion of the sectional conflict, Mr. McGee returned to Trenton and to his uncle's home. There he proceeded to assist the latter by putting in the crop then due for planting in this locality, and in agricultural activities with his relative, Mr. McGee continued for two years, in the meantime looking to his chosen life work.
In. 1867 Mr. McGee took charge of the school at Miller's chapel, where he taught for two and a half years. He then accepted a position as instructor in the academy at Bells. After one year in that institution he organized the schools at Trenton, where he acted both as instructor
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and as superintendent. For a period of twenty-six and one-half years Superintendent McGee retained this position, steadily building up the school system to one of strength and marked efficiency.
In August of 1899 Superintendent McGee tendered his resignation as head of the Trenton schools in order to accept the principalship of the high school of Jackson. Having officiated in the latter capacity for four years, he was honored by election to the position of superintendent of this city's system of education. His direction of Jackson's schools con- tinued for nine years, at the conclusion of which time, in 1912, he ten- dered his resignation as superintendent in order to retire to private life, where he is now engaged upon a work that will doubtless establish his name forever in educational circles.
It is Professor McGee's privilege to look back upon a career of the truest type of service the world knows-that in which the faithful, large- hearted educator truly stands in loco parentis to unlimited numbers of youths. The lives Professor McGee has touched for good, for stimulated action, for awakened conscience, for inspired purpose-these are legion ; nor are their hearts without tribute, both spoken and silent. Printed. volumes bear Gentry Richard McGee's name, and the work of his hand and brain, in the shape of a school history of Tennessee, is now in general use in the public schools of the state, and he has for years been gath- ering material for a complete history of the United States which he ex- pects to bring to completion and publication in the course of the present year (1913), the same being designed for use in the public schools of the country.
Professor McGee's home life was established in 1872. In February of that year he was united in marriage to Miss Sallie Valentine Prentice, of Richmond, Virginia, a cousin of the noted sculptor, Valentine. Mrs. McGee died in 1900. The only child born to them was a daughter, whom they named Ora Belle, and who is now the wife of George H. Brandau, of - Jackson.
Through the years he spent here and in Trenton, Professor McGee has made countless friendships in other relations apart from those of his immediate profession. These include those who have come in close touch with him in his connection with the Church of the Disciples, of which he is a member; in his affiliation with the party affairs of the Democracy; and in his membership in various fraternal organizations. Of the latter he belongs to the. Masonic order, his mother lodge being at Trenton, where he is a past master, and his later association with Jackson Lodge No. 332, A. F. & A. M., to which he was transferred on the. occasion of his removal to this place. He is also a member of the Kenton Chapter of the Knights Templar, and of the Knights of Pythias, No. 16, of which lodge he is past chancellor.
The usefulness of Gentry Richard McGee's life does not by any means cease with the laying aside of his official duties. Still young of heart and
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mind, still interested in all that promotes the best development of intel- ligence and character, he is the adviser of many individuals and many organizations. They are not few who both praise and affectionately envy the rich service of this veteran educator.
W. F. WHITE. The tiller of the soil can enjoy to the fullest the bounties of nature, for he earns them well. On the farm there is oppor- tunity for the development of man's physical, mental and moral powers without restraint. From the sweet-scented fields and meadows comes an inspiration which cannot fail in its influence for good-an influence which is satisfying beyond that of the artificialities of city life. In such an atmosphere, in communion with nature, Mr. White has thrived and prospered.
Mr. White's ancestors belonged to a class of wealthy and influential farmers, his maternal grandfather, Benjamin Taylor, who was born in North Carolina and came to Tennessee prior to 1800, owning consider- able land; and his great-grandfather, Francis Ketring, being one of the wealthiest men of his time. A German by birth, Francis Ketring came from Pennsylvania to Tennessee accompanied by the soldiers. To each of his large family of children he gave a farm of considerable size.
Coming to Tennessee in 1845 from Virginia, the state of his birth, Willis White, the father of W. F. White, three years later married Bar- bara Taylor, who was born in Sumner county, Tennessee, and who died in 1879. He was a farmer by occupation, a Democrat in politics, and be- longed to the Presbyterian church. His death occurred in 1886. W. F. White has one sister, Katie, who married I. D. Luton and lives in Nash- ville.
Having finished his education in the common schools of Sumner county, Tennessee, in which county he was born May 30, 1851, W. F. White decided that no occupation presented a better opportunity than did the one in which his ancestors had been so successful, and he ac- cordingly engaged in farming. His choice was a wise one and he is now one of the leading farmers in his section, fraternally affiliated with the Masons, being a Chapter Mason, and in politics a Democrat.
Mr. White married Ella Patterson, daughter of Capt. R. S. Patterson and Tennessee Jefferson of Nashville, Tennessee, and they are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. Their home and farm is an ob- ject of beauty and utility combined-a model of life in the country, in- dicative of the prosperity attained by its owner.
GEORGE W. JACKSON. The present judge of the county court of Sumner county received that distinction as a merited honor for his able record in business and citizenship. Judge Jackson, who is a native of this county and represents one of the old families here, began his career as a poor boy, and it has been due to his unremitting industry and fine
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business ability that he is now recognized as one of the most substantial farmers and public-spirited citizens of the county.
George W. Jackson was born in Sumner county, April 7, 1862, a son of William and Nannie A. (Vanderville) Jackson. The paternal grand- father, Matthew Jackson, a native of North Carolina, brought his family of young children to Tennessee and settled on a farm in Davidson county. He was one of the early settlers here and during the thirties took service under General Jackson during the Seminole Indian war. The old planta- tion, of which he was the owner, was operated in the early days by slave labor. The Vandervilles, representing the maternal branch of the family, are also among the old citizens of Tennessee, Grandfather John Vander- ville having been born and reared in this state, and a son of one of the first settlers.
William Jackson, the father, was born in North Carolina in 1814, and died in 1870. His wife was born in Davidson county, Tennessee, in 1823, and her death occurred in 1887. The father was a boy when his parents moved into Tennessee, settling on a farm in Davidson county. From there he came to Sumner county in 1860, and during the remainder of his life was a successful farmer here. He reared a family of eight chil- dren, seven of whom are now living, Judge Jackson being the fifth in order of birth. The parents were both members of the Methodist church. The father was a justice of the peace and for a number of years held the office of coroner in Davidson county. Judge Jackson, during his boy- hood days, attended the free schools of Goodlettsville. Starting as a poor boy on a farm, he utilized his energies to the best advantage, and in 1835 bought a farm on credit. The results of the next four or five years' efficient management enabled him to pay for this place, and he has long since been on the highroad of prosperity. At the present time his estate comprises five hundred acres of land, for which he has been offered one hundred dollars per acre. He is also a stockholder in the Bank of Goodlettsville.
In 1885 occurred his marriage to Miss Josie A. Crunk, a daughter of John A. Crunk, one of Sumner county's farmers. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson are members of the Methodist church, in which he has served as steward for fifteen years past. His fraternal affiliations are with the Woodmen of the World. A Democrat in politics, he has never been an active seeker for office, and the honors bestowed upon him by his party have all come unsolicited. The first important public office which he held was that of justice of the peace, to which he was elected in 1892, and in 1912 he be- came county judge. He is also a member of the board of education.
HIRAM NEAL. It is doubtful if any of the present citizens of Wilson county represents older and better known families in this vicinity than Hiram Neal, president of the Watertown Bank, and for many years a prominent business man and leader in local affairs. The Neals have been
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settled in this section of Tennessee for much more than a century, and wherever the name is found, it has been associated with substantial char- acter of citizenship, and a solid prosperity in material affairs.
Hiram Neal, himself, is one of the oldest native residents of Wilson county, where he was born on the thirtieth of December, 1841, a son of Ashley and Elizabeth (Waters) Neal. The family came to this vicinity from Kentucky, where the paternal grandfather, Pallas Neal, was born, whence he came to Tennessee when a young man. The first name of his wife was Sallie. By occupation he was a farmer and stock raiser, and he spent most of his active career in Wilson county, where he died. The maternal grandfather, named Shelah Waters, was a native of Maryland, leaving there in 1789 for Virginia, whence he came in 1811 to Wilson county, Tennessee, during the pioneer epoch, and spent the rest of his life in this state.
Ashley Neal, the father, was born in Wilson county in 1803, and died in 1886, at a very advanced age. His wife, also born in this county in 1804, passed away in May, 1865. His lines of business were farming and the raising of stock, and he also was known to a considerable extent as a dealer and trader in stock. His farm consisted of between three hundred and four hundred acres of land, and he owned some slaves, for the cultivation of his crops, during the ante-bellum days. He was also a member of the Grange ; in politics during his early life he was a Whig, subsequently a Republican, and although he had been a slave owner, he was a strong Union man in his sympathies. His wife was a member of the Missionary Baptist church. They were the parents of ten children, and five of them are now living, Hiram Neal having been the ninth in order of birth.
Hiram Neal grew up in his home district of Wilson county, and when a boy attended the country schools of that vicinity. His education was completed in Pennsylvania, where he attended school for a time. His practical career commenced on a farm, and he bought sixty acres on credit, which he was able, by his industry and good management, to pay off within the time appointed at the beginning. He is now the owner of one hundred acres of farm land, near Watertown, but has owned much more than this at an earlier period in his career, since he has given his children good farms, and has been prosperous to a very gratifying degree. Mr. Neal is president of the Bank of Watertown, and for the past eighteen years has served his community in the office of justice of the peace.
In 1866 he married Elizabeth Whaley, a daughter of William Whaley, a merchant of De Kalb county, Tennessee. The two children now living are Sallie, who is the wife of C. A. Smith, and resides on a farm in Wilson county ; and A. W., who is a resident of Nashville, Tenn. Mr. Neal and wife are members of the Missionary Baptist church, and in politics he has maintained an independent attitude.
سل سشاد.
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J. N. CURD, M. D. One of the most successful farmers and prominent men of Wilson county, Tennessee, is Dr. J. N. Curd, who having spent a number of years of his life as a practitioner of medicine, turned after a time to farming and has made as good a farmer as he did a doctor. He is a man of wide personal popularity, and the respect which his neighbors have for him gives him no small influence on the life of the community. He served in the Civil war and has helped to make the New South out of the ruins of the old, and all through these years he has used his influence and aid in all projects that would be of benefit to the com- munity.
J. N. Curd is a native of Wilson county, but comes of Virginia parentage, his father having been born in the latter state in 1805. His father was W. M. Curd, and his grandfather was John Curd, also a native of Virginia. The Curd family came to America from Ireland, early in the colonial period. John Curd married Elizabeth Lumpkin, also a native of Virginia, in 1801, and early in the eighteenth century they removed to Tennessee where they spent the remainder of their lives. W. M. Curd was only a child when his parents removed to Tennessee, and he received his education in Wilson county, where they settled. On the 22nd of November, 1832, he married Susan Davis, a daughter of N. G. Davis, and his wife, who was a Miss McFarland, both natives of Virginia, who were early settlers in Tennessee and spent all of their lives in the state of their adoption. Mr. and Mrs. Curd became the parents of four children, of whom two are now living; J. N. Curd and his sister, Bettie, who is the widow of W. C. Dodson, and is living in Davidson county. Both the father and mother were members of the Baptist church and Mr. Curd was a member of the Democratic party. He died when a comparatively young man, in 1842.
J. N. Curd grew up in the country and attended the country schools until he had advanced far enough to go away to school. He was then sent to Union University, at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and later matricu- lated in the University of Nashville, where he took a course in medicine. He was graduated from this institution in 1867, but before receiving his degree he had been engaged in the practice of his profession, for during the days of the conflict between the states, there was a crying need for anyone who had any pretensions of a knowledge of medicine. He enlisted in the army in 1862 and served throughout the rest of the war as a surgeon in the Confederate army, surrendering with the rest of General Johnston's army to General Sherman, at Goldsboro, North Caro- lina, in 1865. After the close of the war Dr. Curd became a full-fledged physician and with the experience he had gained on the battlefield it was not long before he had established a fine practice. He was thus engaged for fifteen years and then concluded to retire from the pro- fession and settled as a farmer in Wilson county, Tennessee. near Mount Juliet. He secured, partly by inheritance and partly by purchase, a
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