USA > Tennessee > A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans, the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume V > Part 25
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One of the four children of former Congressman Jacob M. Thorn- burgh and his wife, Laura Emma (Pettibone) Thornburgh, John M. Thornburgh, of this review, was born in the city of Knoxville, November 10, 1881. His father was a son of Montgomery Thornburgh, a prominent lawyer of Jefferson county, Tennessee, and was born in that county on July 3, 1837. He died at Knoxville on the 19th day of September, 1890. Jacob Montgomery Thornburgh had just been licensed to practice law when the Civil war broke out, and he crossed the mountains into Ken- tucky in 1861 and joined the Union army. He was afterwards com- . missioned lieutenant colonel of the Fourth Tennessee Cavalry. He made an enviable reputation as a soldier and officer, and was for some time the commander of a brigade. He was mustered out in July, 1865, and in the following year President Johnson tendered him a major's commis- sion in the regular army, which he declined. He was district attorney from the third judicial district from 1866 to 1871, and in 1872 he was elected to congress, succeeding himself in the office in 1874 and in 1876. After retiring from congress he formed a partnership with Judge George Andrews, which continued until the death of Judge Andrews in 1889, and his own death followed within a year from that time. He was an industrious, popular and successful lawyer, especially noted for his ability as an advocate, and his position in political and professional life in his time was one of the most secure. His honored father, Montgomery Thornburgh, was in his day one of the leading citizens of Knox county, where he practiced law and also followed farming, was a member of the legislature and served in the office of attorney general of the county.
John Minnis Thornburgh was educated at Columbia University, New York, and at the University of Tennessee, where he was graduated A. B. in 1901 and LL. B. in 1902, being valedictorian of his class in the latter year. Admitted to the bar to practice in all courts of Tennessee in 1902, he was subsequently, on March 8, 1909, admitted to the bar of the United States supreme court. From 1903 to 1905 he was connected with the firm of Cornick, Wright & Frantz, and in 1905 formed the association with Mr. Powers which has proved so successful for both of them. Since July, 1911, Mr. Thornburgh has been serving as United States commis- sioner. He has been a member of the Knox county Republican executive
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committee since 1906, was a delegate to the state gubernatorial conven- tion of 1910, and in the same year was a candidate for the Republican nomination to the office of attorney general of Knox county.
Mr. Thornburgh is a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and the Phi Kappa Phi honor fraternity, and affiliates with the Knoxville Lodge No. 160, B. P. O. E .; Council No. 645 of the Knights of Columbus, and is a member of the Cotillion Club and the Cherokee Country Club. He is a communicant of the Church of the Immaculate Conception.
Mr. Thornburgh was married on October 11, 1910, to Miss Sara Mat- lock, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Matlock, of Riceville, Tennessee. They have one son, Henry Matlock Thornburgh, born April 30, 1912.
JOHN E. ROBERTSON. Highly respected both as a citizen and as a public official is John E. Robertson, revenue officer and postmaster of Springfield, Tennessee. He is a son of Logan T. and Elizabeth (Wells) Robertson and a grandson of George W. Wells, a man of unusual distinc- tion in Crockett county. That community was the native home of George Wells, and there he had always lived until the period of the Civil war. He was one of the rare southerners who disapproved of secession and be- lieved in the right of the national government to enforce unity in the great family of states whose very name is indicative of union. As Mr. Wells had the courage of his convictions and deceived no one in regard to his opinions, it became necessary for him to go, as an exile from his southern home, to Illinois, where he temporarily settled in Duquoin. After the close of the war, he returned to Crockett county, the beloved home of his childhood, and there he remained throughout the residue of his life, with the friends of a lifetime. He had not gone so far as to demonstrate his loyalty to the government by taking up arms against his neighbors, but he had two sons who felt it their duty to serve the Union as soldiers in the Federal army. These two young men, John W. and Everett Wells, were both killed in the engagement at Fort Pillow. After the period of renewed peace was begun, Mr. Wells was again accorded his old place in the hearts of his friends of opposite opinions. He was, in- deed, a very prominent citizen, serving for twenty years as justice of the peace and receiving every tribute of genuine respect. The man whom his daughter married-Logan Robertson-was a carpenter for many years, only laying aside that occupation in 1880, to retire to his farm in Crockett county, where he now lives, at the age of eighty-one years. Elizabeth Wells Robertson died in 1884 at the age of forty-eight. She and her husband were both connected with the Missionary Baptist church. Logan Robertson is a Republican in politics and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Of the four sons yet liv- ing, who were born to Logan and Elizabeth Robertson, the second was John E., the date of whose birth was November 6, 1863, and whose birth- place was Chestnut Bluff, Tennessee.
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At his own home John E. Robertson was given the opportunities for education which the public schools offered and later spent one year in advanced study at the South-Western University, located at Jackson, Tennessee. He then engaged in the profession of teaching, which he con- tinued for two years. At the end of that time he entered the revenue service as assistant store-keeper and gauger. In 1892 he located in Springfield, which has ever since been his home.
In 1894 Mr. Robertson was united in marriage with Miss Fannie Dylus, a daughter of Finis Dylus, a native and lifelong resident of Rob- ertson county. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Robertson and was christened Lula D. Robertson. She is at home with her parents. Mrs. Robertson is a member of the Methodist church, her husband being connected with the Baptist denomination. He is affiliated with the secret societies of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Free and Accepted Masons.
In 1906 Mrs. Robertson received the appointment to the postoffice of Springfield and is nominal postmistress, having retained the office since that time. Mr. Robertson undertakes many of the responsibilities and duties of the office, ably discharging the same.
ROBERT ALEXANDER KIMBEL, of Linden, has been registrar of Perry county thirty-one years, or since 1882, and has the distinction of having given the longest continuous service in one position of any present office holder of Tennessee. This long continuation in public service speaks more eloquently than words can do as to the position Mr. Kimbel holds in the confidence and esteem of the people among whom he has lived since his birth. The name he bears is one that has been prominent in the public life of this county for full three-quarters of a century and has throughout that long period remained locally significant of the most worthy order of citizenship.
The Kimbels are Scotch and the family was founded in this country by William Kimbel, the grandfather of Robert A., who emigrated here from Scotland along in the latter part of the eighteenth century and settled in Alabama, where he followed his trade as a brick mason. Dr. Franklin H. Kimbel, his son, born in Alabama in 1799, grew to man- hood in his native state and there was prepared for the profession of medicine. He came to Tennessee when a young man, locating first in Waynesboro, but removing later from thence to Perry county, where he spent the remainder of his career in active service as a physician, passing away in 1864. He became a very prominent citizen of this county and twice represented it in the Tennessee state legislature, first in 1851 and 1852 and again in 1855-56. He was also clerk of the circuit court in Perry county during the '40s. and in 1860 was county court clerk. In political allegiance he was a staunch Democrat. In 1840, in Perry county, Tennessee, he wedded Eliza King, who was born in Cheatham Vol. V-14
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county, Tennessee, in 1813 and who departed life in Perry county in 1883. Six children came to this union, viz .: Robert Alexander Kim- bel, the immediate subject of this review; Benjamin F., who served under Captain Whitwell, in Colonel Cox's regiment, in General Forrest's army during the Civil war and died in a Federal prison; Elizabeth, deceased in infancy ; James Wiley and John Nathaniel, twins, the for- mer of whom is deceased and the latter of whom resides in Perry county ; and Sims Allen, also a resident of Perry county.
Robert Alexander Kimbel, the eldest of this family, was born at Buffalo River, Perry county, Tennessee, September 26, 1841, and re- ceived his educational discipline in the early public schools of this county. His public service began in 1882, when he was elected to the office which he has held continuously since, that of registrar of Perry county, in which position his service has been of the most worthy and efficient order. He is a Democrat.
Mr. Kimbel has been twice married. In 1890 he wedded Miss Martha Broyles, of Savannah, Tennessee, and to their union were born two children: Herbert Franklin, now deceased, and Hundley Broyles, who married Miss Bertha Willer of Savannah and is manager of the Cumberland Telephone Company at Waynesboro, at the age of nineteen. Mrs. Kimbel passed to rest in 1896, a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church South. In 1902 Mr. Kimbel took as his second wife Miss Fannie Ellis, of Franklin, Tennessee. Both are members of the Methodist Episcopal church South; Mr. Kimbel has been trustee of his church for many years.
KINNARD TAYLOR MCCONNICO. One of the strongest firms of the Nashville bar is that of Pitts & McConnico, composed of John A. Pitts and Kinnard T. McConnico. The junior member has been identified with the profession in this city for fifteen years, and has a record of achievement and success in both the law and in public affairs.
Mr. McConnico, who represents an old Tennessee family, was born at Cornersville, Marshall county, this state, on February 13, 1875. His parents, both natives of Tennessee and of Scotch-Irish lineage, were George H. K. and Sarah Josephine (Taylor) McConnico. The McCon- nicos originally settled in Virginia, from there came to Williamson county, Tennessee, where a number of families of the name have since resided, and many of the members have been prominent. The Rev. Garner McConnico, great-grandfather of the Nashville lawyer, was a pioneer minister of the Primitive Baptist church in Tennessee. George H. K. McConnico, the father, now deceased, was a Confederate soldier throughout the war, being a private of Company A of the Forty-fifth Tennessee Infantry.
The family residence was established in Nashville when the son Kin- nard T. was seven years old, and here he was reared and educated.
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From the public schools he entered Vanderbilt University, where he took the literary course and later studied law, being graduated in 1896 with the degree LL. B. Since that time he has practiced in this city with growing distinction and success. In 1902 he was elected city attor- ney for four years, but resigned after three years and in April, 1905, joined Mr. Pitts in their present partnership. Mr. McConnico is a Democrat and a member of the Knights of Pythias. He was married in 1906 to Miss Nina Ferris, daughter of the late Judge John C. Ferris, of Nashville.
HENRY J. HARLEY. As a representative of the manufacturing inter- ests of Davidson county, and an honored and respected citizen of Nash- ville, Henry J. Harley, vice-president of the Smith, Herring & Baird Manufacturing Company, and likewise of the Harley Pottery Company, is the subject of this brief history, wherein are recorded some of the more important and interesting events in his life. He was born on a farm in Jackson county, Tennessee, June 27, 1838, a son of George Washington Harley, coming from pioneer stock.
His grandfather Hiram Harley, a native, as far as known, of North Carolina, came from there to Tennessee in the very early part of the nineteenth century, making the removal with teams. Locating in Jack- son county, he bought land on the Blackburn fork of Roaring river. Tennessee was then but sparsely settled, wild game of all kinds being abundant, while the streams were well filled with fish. There were no railways in the state, and no convenient markets in the county. Owing to an entire absence of mills of any kind, he, in common with the other pioneers, used to manufacture his own meal, pounding the corn with a pestle in an iron mortar. In 1850, then a man well advanced in years; he again started westward, going to Missouri, settling as a pioneer in the vicinity of Springfield, buying a tract of land about twenty-five miles southeast of that city, and there residing until his death. He was killed during the Civil war by bushwhackers, being then ninety years of age. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Stafford, survived him several years, rounding out nearly a century of life. They reared a family of five children, as follows: Harriet, Elizabeth, Matilda, George W., and Andrew.
Born in North Carolina, George W. Harley was but a babe when brought by his parents to Tennessee, where he grew to manhood. Sub- sequently buying land near the parental homestead, he cleared and improved a good farm, on which he was engaged in agricultural pur- suits until his death, at the comparatively early age of fifty-nine years. He married Margaret Lawson, who was born in. Jackson county, Ten- nessee ; her father, Robert Tilford, it is said, was a native of Scotland, and her mother was a member of the well-known Sevier family. She died at the age of sixty-six years, having reared eight children, namely :
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Henry J., Samantha, James A., Hiram E., Lewis, Elizabeth, Absalom, and Eliza.
Brought up in his native county, Henry J. Harley obtained his early education in the typical pioneer log cabin, attending a free school two or three months each year. The rude cabin was made of rough logs, with an earth chimney and a puncheon floor, and its pupils came there from anywhere within a radius of five miles. In 1853, when he was fifteen years old, his Grandfather Harley visited relatives and old-time friends in Tennessee, and when the grandfather returned to his home in Missouri he accompanied him, they being four weeks in making the trip, taking turns in riding the one horse which they had between them. He found wild game of all kinds plentiful in Missouri, and from the deer which he shot during the following winter he realized a little money.
Going to Springfield in the spring of 1854, Mr. Harley found it to be a small but flourishing inland town, with stage connections for St. Louis and other points. The greater part of Missouri was then owned by the government, and people wishing to enter land were obliged to register at the land offiee in Springfield, and then patiently wait in the large erowd that was always in evidence until his name was called, some- times waiting two weeks or more. He sought and obtained work on a farm, and at the end of four months of steady labor was paid the sum of sixty dollars in gold. With his earnings in his poeket he started homeward, walking to St. Genevieve, on the Mississippi river, and on the way passing Iron Mountain. There were then no railways in Mis- souri; on the plank road which had been laid to St. Genevieve, a dis- tance of forty miles, all the ore was drawn with teams. From that place Mr. Harley came via the Mississippi, Ohio, and Cumberland rivers to Nashville, Tennessee, where he purchased a fine suit of clothes. The vest, which was a fancy one, and decidedly dressy, was ornamented with hand-painted decorations.
From that time until the outbreak of the Civil war, Mr. Harley was busily employed in tilling the soil. In July, 1861, he enlisted, from his old home in Jackson county, in Company G, Twenty-fifth Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, of which he was commissioned first lieutenant. After the engagement at Chickamauga, he was detailed as supernumary officer, and ordered to report to General Gideon J. Pillow, at Marietta, Georgia. He subsequently had to report first to Colonel Lockhart, at Montgomery, Alabama, and later to Major Tazewell Newman, at Gun- tersville, Alabama, continuing in active service until the cessation of hostilities.
Returning home barefooted and ragged, Mr. Harley commeneed farming on rented land, with his wife, occupying a log cabin. Success- ful in his operations, he continued as a tiller of the soil until 1871, when he aceepted a position with the Phillips & Buttorff Manufacturing Com- pany, of Nashville, for which he was traveling salesman for three years.
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In 1874 he was elected clerk of the county court of Jackson county, and at the expiration of his term, in 1878, was re-elected to the same office. Resigning in 1880, Mr. Harley resumed his former position as commer- cial salesman for his former employers, and continued with the firm until 1890. From that time until 1908, a period of eighteen years, he was general manager of the Broad Street Stove and Tinware Company's establishment. During the past four years, since 1908, Mr. Harley has been associated with the Smith, Herring & Baird Company, of which he is vice-president, being also vice-president of the Harley Pottery Company. He is likewise much interested in the Cumberland Steam- boat Company, and in other enterprises of importance.
Mr. Harley married, January 17, 1860, Mary E. McKoy, who was born in Coffee county, Tennessee, a daughter of Hiram and Margaret (McDonald) McKoy. Five children have been born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Harley, namely : Maggie, James M., Hiram, William H., and David R. Maggie, wife of W. Y. Hart, has three children, Chester K., Mary, and Eugenia. James M. Harley married Willie Ann Vaughan, and they are the parents of two children, Elmore and Mattie Lee. Hiram, whose death occurred August 13, 1892, married Jessie Phillips, by whom he had one child, Mary Kate. William H. married Florence Roach, and they have three children, Ruth, Rachel, and Rebecca. David R. married Jennie Vaughan. Elmore Harley, Mr. Harley's grandson, married Alta Jarrett, and they have three children, Johnson, Jarrett, William Leslie and Anna Elizabeth. Mary Kate Harley, a grand- daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harley, married Hugh Martin, and has one child, Mary Elizabeth Martin.
Mr. and Mrs. Harley are members of the Christian church, and for full forty years Mr. Harley has belonged to the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons.
WILLIAM THOMAS HARDISON. For many years prominently identified with the business life of the city of Nashville, William Thomas Hardison has contributed largely towards the development and advancement of the city's mercantile prosperity, and is now living retired from active pursuits, enjoying a well-earned leisure. A son of Humphrey Hardison, he was born, March 20, 1839, in Maury county, Tennessee, of substan- tial pioneer stock.
His paternal grandfather, James Hardison, who was of Scotch ances- try, was born and reared in North Carolina, and was there married. In 1808, accompanied by his family, he migrated to Tennessee, making the journey overland with teams, one wagon and a cart holding all of their household possessions and their farming implements. He located as a pioneer in Manry county, settling there while the country round- about was still in its primitive condition, the dense forests being in- habited by the wily Indian and the wild beasts native to the country,
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neither, however, proving very troublesome. For many years after he established his home in Tennessee there were no railroads near him, Nashville, forty-five miles away, being the nearest depot for supplies. He purchased land, and on the homestead which he improved spent the remainder of his life, both he and his faithful wife living to a good old age.
Born in North Carolina, Humphrey Hardison was a small boy of four years when he was brought by his parents to Tennessee. Growing to manhood in pioneer days, he received a limited education in the district schools, but while assisting his father became familiar with the various branches of agriculture. Beginning life for himself, he purchased sixty acres of land on Duck river, twelve miles east of Columbia, and at once began to clear the tract of its heavy growth of timber. Having but one hired man to assist him in his arduous task, the work was necessarily slow. He embarked in the livestock business, making a specialty of rais- ing mules and saddle horses. He was very successful in that industry, and as his means increased he added to his landed possessions until he had seven hundred acres in one body besides outlying tracts in that vicinity, and six hundred and forty acres of land in Texas. He operated with slave labor, and was easily the leading stock raiser and dealer of Maury county for several years, and a man of prominence in agricul- tural circles until his death, October 11, 1874.
Humphrey Hardison married Harriet Woolard, who was born in Tennessee, a daughter, and only child, of Silas and Lucretia (Robinson) Woolard, natives of North Carolina, and early settlers of Maury county. She died at a comparatively early age, being but forty-five years old when she passed to the life beyond. Ten children were born of their union, as follows: Marshall, who served in the Confederate army, and was captured at Fort Donelson, died while in prison; James, who like- wise enlisted in the Confederate service, died soon after entering the army; Jane became the wife of George W. Patterson; Sarah married J. C. Ligett ; Margaret Sophronia married J. M. Patterson; William Thomas, with whom this brief sketch is chiefly concerned; Richard Calvin, who, early in 1861, enlisted in the Confederate army, and was commissioned lieutenant of his company, was honorably discharged in 1862, on account of physical disability ; Victoria became the wife of Wil- liam Wilcox; Humphrey enlisted as a soldier in 1864, and served until the close of the war; and Sherod T.
On attaining his majority William Thomas Hardison took up his residence in Texas, which was then a typical frontier state, with but forty miles of railroad within its borders. He found employment as clerk in a store at Paris, but when, a few months later, war between the states was declared, he returned home, and at once enlisted in Company F, First Tennessee Cavalry, under command of General Armstrong and later of General Forrest, the famous Confederate cavalry leader. Mr.
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Hardison continued with his command in all of its many campaigns, marches and battles until the close of the conflict, being in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the surrender. He was allowed to retain his horse until he reached Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, where, with others, he took passage for Nashville in a box car.
On arriving home, Mr. Hardison assisted his father in the harvest field for awhile, and later taught school two terms. Changing his occu- pation, he then dealt in horses for a time, buying in Indianapolis, Indiana, and selling in his home state. He subsequently managed his father's farm for a year, and then embarked in agricultural pursuits on his own account, assuming possession of a small farm which his father had given him, it being located in Marshall county. Disposing of that at the end of a year, Mr. Hardison moved to Obion county, Tennessee, where he bought a tract of timbered land, and, at a crossing of the roads, established a general store, which he conducted successfully for two years. Coming then to Nashville, a city of but thirty-five thousand inhabitants, Mr. Hardison bought a third interest in a retail grocery store on Broad street. Selling out his interest four years later, he, with two others, purchased a wholesale grocery house and stock, and con- ducted a substantial mercantile business, as a member of the firm of Harsh, McLean & Hardison, until 1890. Selling out in that year, Mr. Hardison purchased a half interest in the business of Mr. E. A. Ireland, with whom he was associated for five years. He then bought out his partner, and remained as sole proprietor of the establishment until suc- ceeded by his son, Humphrey Hardison, who still continues the business with characteristic success.
A man of great executive and financial ability, Mr. Hardison has been prominently identified with various enterprises of note. For five years he was president of the Broadway National Bank, and on resigning that position served for two years as director, being then succeeded by his son Humphrey. He has also served as director and vice-president of the . Wilkinson County Undertakers' Association.
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