USA > Tennessee > A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans, the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume V > Part 37
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Mr. Shields has served as president of the Cumberland Club, is vice- president of the Knoxville Railway & Light Company, and a director in numerous other large enterprises, which are realizing something of the benefit of his connection with them. Various movements for the welfare of his city have been promoted and fostered by him, and he is especially interested in anything that tends to elevate the young and worthy men of the day.
Mr. Shields was united in marriage on October 30, 1889, to Miss Alice Watkins, the daughter of Arthur P. and Anna (Nielson) Watkins. Mr. and Mrs. Shields are affiliated with the Second Presbyterian church of Knoxville. Their home, located on Melrose avenue, covering three acres, is one of the finest and most beautiful in Knoxville. Essentially a business man, Mr. Shields has not allowed the glamour of the public arena to entice him, although he takes a good citizen's interest in the political affairs of the day. His long and honorable career in Knoxville has made him well known not only in business and financial circles, but in club, social and fraternal life, where his hosts of friends testify to his popularity.
Concerning the family of sons of which Mr. Shields is one, and the eldest, but three others are living today. One is Hon. John Knight Shields, the widely known jurist and senator; another is Samuel G. Shields, a lawyer, and the third is Joseph S. Shields, a jobbing merchant of New York City.
DAVID CAMPBELL KELLY BINKLEY, M. D. The Binkley family origi- nated in Germany, but of their ancestry insufficient data is at hand to make possible a complete record of the family since its establishment in America. It is known, however, that they first settled in Pennsylvania and from there moved to various states of the Union. Two brothers, John and Adam Binkley, came from Pennsylvania and located in North Carolina, thence moving to Tennessee in later years. From these two
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it is thought that all the Binkleys in Tennessee descended. Of these brothers, John Binkley is the progenitor of Dr. David C. K. Binkley of this review.
John Binkley became the father of Frederic, who was born in North Carolina, but on reaching manhood moved to Tennessee, locating in Nashville, where he followed his trade of carpenter for a number of years. He later moved on a farm in Davidson county, trading his Nash- ville property for the farm, and there he lived near nature until his death in 1857, when he was eighty-four years of age. He was the father of Joseph Binkley, who spent his life in Davidson county. He followed farming and was a prominent and prosperous man in his community. He was a Whig until in later years when the party was succeeded by the Republican party, when he affiliated with the Democratic faction and thereafter his support and sympathies were centered there. He was born on November 19, 1810, and died in August, 1887. He married Martha Buchanan Steele, born in Davidson county in 1911. She was a daughter of Samuel and Patience (Shane) Steele, North Carolinans by birth, who were interested in agriculture all their lives. The father served in the Indian wars under General Jackson, and in his younger days gave considerable attention to the business of hunting and trap- ping. He died in 1864 when he was in his eighty-second year of life. Joseph and Martha B. (Steele) Binkley were married in Davidson county in 1832, and they became the parents of twelve children-six sons and six daughters. David C. K. Binkley was the youngest of that number, and five of the family are living today. The wife and mother died in 1859, and in later years the father married Mrs. Elizabeth (Iva) Holland, a widow who had one child. She is now deceased.
David Campbell K. Binkley was born in Davidson county, Tennes- see, on the 30th day of June, 1857. He found his early education in the common schools of Davidson county, and later attended a private school in Decaturville, Tennessee, under the tutelage of R. P. Griffith. When he had been sufficiently prepared for higher studies, he went to Vander- bilt College at Nashville, Tennessee, where he took a medical course, finishing his studies in 1878 and graduating with the degree of M. D. at the head of his class, winning two gold medals-the Founder's medal for general proficiency in all branches and also the medal in anatomy given by Dr. T. O. Simmons. His first active practice of his profession was at Hustberg, Tennessee, and so well did he succeed that he con- tinued in that place, which is still the scene of his professional activities and his home as well. In 1891 he engaged in the drug business in con- nection with his practice, and in that, as in his profession, he has pros- pered in a pleasing degree with the passing years. His early acquaint- ance with farm life bred in him a fondness for things agricultural, and when his prosperity made it possible, Dr. Binkley purchased a fine farm in the vicinity of Hurstberg, and later added to his possession a similar
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property in Davidson county, in both of which he takes a considerable pleasure. In November, 1911, Dr. Binkley suffered a severe fire loss at his store in Hustberg, which constitutes practically the one piece of financial loss of any 'moment that he has suffered since he has been established in business.
Dr. Binkley is a Republican, not particularly active in affairs of that nature, but withal a good citizen, and one who takes the maximum inter- est in civic movements designed to advance the material and moral status of the community. He is a member of the county and state medi- cal societies and the American Medical Association. Mrs. Binkley is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
In 1883 Dr. Binkley was united in marriage with Miss Florence E. Dickson, the daughter of Ahner and Mary Jane (Wilkerson) Dickson. She was born in the third civil district of Humphreys county, Tennessee, in 1860. Eleven children came to Dr. and Mrs. Binkley, of which goodly family nine are living today. They are here named as follows: Waldo Bowling. engaged with his father in the drug store; Martha Buchanan, teaching in Alabama; Adelia May, married R. W. Byrn of Hurstberg; Frederick Dickson, attending school at Branam & Hughes; Samuel Fos- ter; Howard Kelly; Florence Rowena; Robert Theodore and Joseph Benjamin, all at home.
COL. GEORGE CAMP PORTER. One of the honored old members of the Tennessee bar, Colonel Porter has for a number of years been engaged in practice at Nashville, and previous to that time was located in different cities of the state. He belongs to one of the old families, and its mem- bers have been honorably represented in this state for a century.
Col. George Camp Porter was born on a farm eight miles north of Summerville in Fayette county, Tennessee, November 15, 1835. His father was Charles Bingley Porter, born in Orange county, Virginia, in 1806, and the grandfather was Col. Charles Bingley Porter, a planter and life-long resident of Virginia. The grandfather had the distinction of being elected to the Virginia house of burgesses over the opposing candidacy of James Madison, afterwards president of the United States, During the Revolution he commanded a regiment of Virginia troops, and led those troops at Yorktown, where Cornwallis surrendered. Charles B. Porter, father of Col. George C., was reared and educated in Virginia, and in 1826 came to Tennessee, locating at Franklin where he was engaged in the manufacture of brick. In 1829 he moved to Haywood county in order to superintend the improvement of the land of Robert C. Foster, and remained in that work until 1834. He then came to Fay- ette county, buying a farm and operating it with slave labor. Leaving his Fayette county land in 1840 he went with his brother John A. to Mississippi, buying a plantation on the river twenty miles above Vicks- burg. In that region he was soon stricken with cholera, and died there
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in April, 1841, being buried in the Tappan cemetery. He was twice married. His first marriage occurred in Franklin to Miss Martha Ould, who died in Haywood county. He then married Mary Scott of Haywood county. By the first marriage were two children, named Frances and Henry. The second union resulted in three children, named George Camp, Robert S. and Mary Bingley. The mother of the latter children continued to live on the farm in Fayette county until her death in 1847. After that the children went to live with their uncle and guardian, Richard W. Green of Lauderdale county, until 1852. Then another uncle, Robert C. Scott of Brownsville, became their guardian, and in his home George C. Porter lived and attended school until he was well upward of manhood. In 1854 he became an engineer on the railroad between Memphis and Bowling Green, Kentucky, but after a few months' employment in that way entered the Kentucky Military Institute under Col. E. W. Morgan. In 1857 he graduated second in his class and was valedictorian. His ambition led to the law, and at Memphis he took up its study with Yerger, Farrington and Yerger, and was admitted to the bar and began practice in Memphis.
Colonel Porter was in the city of Philadelphia when Fort Sumter fell, and was there when the first regiment of Federal troops from Mas- sachusetts passed through the city en route to Washington." He went to Baltimore on a train that followed that regiment, and in that city saw the first bloodshed in the war. He took a steamer for Norfolk, and while going down the bay the steamer was halted by a Confederate gunboat and searched before being allowed to proceed to Norfolk. Returning to Brownsville, Tennessee, Mr. Porter raised the first company in that county for service. This company was known as the Haywood Blues. It was attached to the Sixth Regiment of Tennessee Infantry, and the organization and muster-in occurred at Jackson. W. H. Stevens was colonel, T. P. Jones was lieutenant, and Mr. Porter was major. The regiment became a part of Cheatham's Brigade. After the battle of Shi- loh the regiment was reorganized and Mr. Porter was elected colonel, after which he continued in command of the regiment during its various marches and campaigns and battles until the close. At Murfreesboro the Sixth and Ninth Regiments were consolidated and thereafter were known as the Sixth and Ninth Regiment. At the close of the war Colonel Por- ter was paroled in Memphis, and soon afterwards formed a law partner- ship with Hon. David A. Nunn to engage in practice at Brownsville. Four years later Mr. Nunn was elected to congress, and in 1877 Colonel Porter moved to Ripley, where he was engaged in practice until 1891. In that year he returned to Brownsville, but in 1895 gave up his office in that city and moved to Nashville.
As to politics, Colonel Porter cast his first vote as a Whig. In 1856 he voted for Fillmore and Donelson, the Whig candidates during that year. In 1870 he was elected to the constitutional convention and in
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1871 he was elected to the state senate, representing Haywood, Madison and Lauderdale counties. In 1877 he was chosen representative to the legislature from Haywood county from the floaterial district which in- cluded Haywood, Madison and Hardeman counties. He was appointed in 1895 a member of the board of railroad commissioners, and performed an important service to the state in a time when the work of the commission was largely of a pioneer character. Colonel Porter in 1903 was made superintendent of the state capitol by Gov. B. D. Frazier, and continued to hold that office throughout the administration of the governor.
In 1871 Colonel Porter married Mary Pugh Bond of Haywood county. They have one daughter, Miss Neppie. The family are members of the Episcopal church and Colonel Porter has for a long time been prominent in old army circles. He is a member of Hiram S. Bradford bivouac of the Confederate Veterans, of the John Ingram bivouac at Jackson, and of the Frank Cheatham bivouac at Nashville. As a Mason he has taken the degree of York Rite, including the commandery, and is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias. At the present time Colonel Porter is a member and financial agent of the Tennessee Historical Society.
PROF. MONROE W. WILSON was born in Union county, Tennessee, December 9, 1867. His father was James H. Wilson and his mother Wineford Wilson, nee Brantley. Monroe was the fourth child of a family of five children. His parents were of the sturdy pioneer stock, who were the bone and sinew of the early settlers of this country, and young Monroe inherited from them those sterling qualities of tenacity, industry and fortitude which have counted for so much in the advance- ment of his career as a public educator and a gentleman in private life.
His father died in 1870, when Monroe was three years old, leaving him to make his own way in life and educate himself. This orphan boy conceived the idea that he had a mission in life, and that he must have an educaton to fit him for his life work, and, undaunted by the obstacles of poverty, he steeled his heart to his task. He worked in earnest in the public schools and finally qualified himself for a teacher at the early age of eighteen with a heart which was not satisfied with less than the best; he worked his way through college, and in 1896 was graduated from the American Temperance University. He thereafter taught at Cumberland Gap, Tennessee.
In 1897 he was married to Miss Sarah Kathline Bohannon. To this union one son was born, Monroe, Jr.
A year later he moved with his family to Knoxville, Tennessee, and was for years connected with the schools of Knoxville and Knox county. Later he was elected superintendent of the Lonsdale high school, and his efficient service there led to his election in 1911 to the office of superintendent of public instruction for Knox county.
In this office his work was so satisfactory that he was, in January,
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1913, re-elected by acclamation. There are nearly three hundred teach- ers under his supervision, and during his administration he has been instrumental in having erected in the county of Knox three additional high schools, making five in all. These schools are among the best in the state, and are monuments to the excellent work of the superin- tendent. : 1
During all of these years of incessant professional occupation, the thing which has shown his manhood and endeared him to the hearts of his friends, is the unabated attachment and devotion to his mother; and she has always shared the pleasure and profit of his success.
HON. DAVID D. ANDERSON. Deep and accurate knowledge of law and practice, native shrewdness and ability, and unswerving integrity, made the late Judge David D. Anderson an excellent and successful lawyer and an admirable judge. High personal character, deep religious convic- tions, a kind heart and a strong sense of duty made him a valuable citi- zen. For more than forty years a leading representative of the Knox- ville bar, he at all times maintained its best traditions, and in his death, which occurred December 5, 1911, bar, bench and public united in expressing their grief at the loss of one whose place was unquestionably a difficult one to fill.
Judge Anderson was born December 9, 1840, in Washington county, Tennessee, one of five children born to Alexander and Eliza Rosa (Dead- erick) Anderson, of German and English descent. His father, a leading attorney for many years, became a supreme court judge of California, and in 1840 was elected to the United States senate. Inheriting his father's inclination for the law, David D. Anderson was given a careful education, graduating from the University of Tennessee in 1861 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In April of that same year he enlisted for service in Company M, First Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry, in the Confed- erate service, became captain and senior captain of the regiment, and later was a member of Company B, Nineteenth Tennessee Infantry. His principal engagements were at Shiloh and in Kentucky and southwestern Virginia, and he was wounded at New Hope Church, fifteen miles from Staunton, Virginia, in 1864. On the close of a brilliant military career he engaged in the practice of law, and in 1870 came to Knoxville, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was attorney general of Knox county from 1878 to 1886, and in 1907 became judge of the criminal court of Knox county, in which high office he continued to serve until 1909. His fraternal affiliation was with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he was also a member of the Delaware Society of the Cin- cinnati, Sons of the Revolution, made up of heirs of officers who par- ticipated in the American War for Independence, there being but three members in the entire state of Tennessee.
Judge Anderson was married to Miss Jessie L. Clark, daughter of James Clark, of Morristown, Tennessee.
Jerome Templeton
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SAMUEL B. GIFFIN, county trustee or treasurer of Knox county, is one of the able officials of the county where he has spent his entire career. The substantial vocation of farming has always been his regular business, and as one of the popular and successful representatives of the rural communities he was chosen to his present office.
Mr. Giffin, who was one of a family of sixteen children, was born in Knox county, July 16, 1857. His parents were William and Nancy (King) Giffin. The father, who also was a native of Knox county, was a carpenter by trade, and his death occurred in March, 1889. He was well known for his honesty and integrity.
Samuel B. Giffin during his boyhood attended the common schools of the county, and both during and subsequent to his school days was versed in the activities of the farm. He finally engaged in the occupa- tion on his own account, and has long been a substantial producer of the crops of the soil. His farm, comprising some seventy-five or eighty acres of choice land, is situated six miles east of Knoxville.
His first election to his present position of county trustee occurred in 1910, and he was re-elected in 1912. He has one clerk in the office, his deputy being D. A. Giffin. For twenty-two years he served as member of the county court, and has long been one of the influential men in local public affairs. Fraternally he affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. His own church is the Baptist, while his wife is a Methodist. Mrs. Giffin before her marriage was Miss Marguerite Cailen, a daughter of E. C. A. Cailen, of Knox county. Their family consists of four children, as follows : Nannie A., Ira S., Margaret A. and Ollie F.
HON. JEROME TEMPLETON. The senior member of the well-known law firm of Templeton & Templeton, of Knoxville, is recognized as one of the strong and representative members of the bar of his state, and as a citizen of sterling attributes of character and utmost civic loyalty. He has served as a member of the state senate and has otherwise received patent evidence of popular confidence and esteem. Associated with him in the practice of his profession is his younger son, Paul E., an able and ambitious young lawyer, who is ably upholding the professional prestige of the family name.
Jerome Templeton is a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of the state of Tennessee and is the second of five children born to Allison and Mahala (Cunningham) Templeton, one of the sons, John C. by name, having been killed in the fight at Peach Tree creek, near Atlanta, in Civil war times. Of the five, three are yet living. The father was born in Rhea county, Tennessee, and he devoted his entire life to the ministry of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. He and his wife were both members of sterling pioneer families of Tennessee, and both were of stanch English lineage. That part of Rhea county wherein Rev. Al-
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lison Templeton was born on May 7, 1820, is now included in Meigs county. A man of splendid mental attainments, Rev. Templeton car- ried on the work of his church with a high order of ability and conse- crated zeal. He was ever influential in the councils of his church, and being a man of exalted ideals and purposes, he gained and retained the high regard of all with whom he came in contact, either in his ministerial capacity, or in any of the relations of life. He passed his closing years in Texas, dying in June, 1882, leaving a record of worthy works, and an honored name. His first wife was claimed by death on February 2, 1861. His second wife survives him, and now lives in Dallas, Texas.
Reared under the conditions and influences incidental to farm life, Jerome Templeton early learned the lessons of practical industry, and in the meanwhile he duly profited by the advantages of the public schools of his locality, as he did later of those of the city of Chattanooga, as well as a private preparatory institution. He finally entered Cum- berland University, at Lebanon, in which he completed his academic course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1871, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He put his scholastic acquirements to prac- tical test and use by turning his attention to the pedagogie profession, and for three years thereafter he continued his labors as a successful and popular teacher in the high school of Loudon county. In the meanwhile he had taken up the study of law, to which he devoted himself with characteristic energy and appreciation, and under the effective preceptor- ship he was fortunate in having, he made rapid and substantial progress in the absorption and assimilation of the science of jurisprudence, with the result that in 1874 he proved himself eligible for and was admitted to the bar. In September of that year he engaged in practice at Sevierville, where he continued in the successful practice of his profession until No- vember, 1881, when he took up his residence at Knoxville, in order that he might acquaint himself with a broader field of labor. In this city he has continued his successful practice during the long intervening years. Mr. Templeton is a strong and resourceful trial lawyer and has won many im- portant forensic victories, and as a counselor he is conservative and judicious, with a broad and accurate knowledge of law and precedent. He is a valued member of the Knoxville Bar Association, the Knox County Bar Association and the Tennessee Bar Association, and his char- acter and high professional ideals have brought him the respect and con- fidence of his confreres at the Tennessee bar, while his success in practice has been on a parity with his recognized ability and indefatigable appli- cation.
From the time when he attained his legal majority Mr. Templeton has given unfaltering allegiance to the Democratic party, and he has been an effective advocate of its cause. In September, 1904, he was elected representative from Knox county in the state senate, and he proved a valuable working member of the upper house of the state legis-
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lature, in which he served one term and in which he was assigned to vari- ous important committees. He is affiliated with the time-honored Ma- sonic fraternity and both he and his wife hold membership in the Pres- byterian church. The beautiful family home, known for its gracious hospitality, is located on the Kingston turnpike, at a point two miles dis- tant from Knoxville, and Mr. Templeton makes daily trips to his offices, which are maintained in Holston National Bank building, and from which headquarters he and his son control a large and representative law business in and about the city.
On the 29th of January, 1873, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Templeton to Miss Belle Mabry, eldest daughter of Col. George W. Mabry, now deceased. She was born in Knox county and there reared, her father being a prominent and influential citizen of the county.
Mr. and Mrs. Templeton have two children : Clarence A., a lawyer of Jellico, Tennessee, and Paul E., associated with his father. Clarence Templeton was born in Knoxville in June, 1875, and educated in the Knoxville public schools, in Baker-Himel and the University of Tennes- see. After his work at the "hill" he studied at the University of Vir- ginia, and then returned in 1901 to take up the practice of law in his father's office, where he remained two years. In 1903 he located in Jellico, where he is at the present time. Mr. Clarence Templeton married Miss Reese Rodgers, a popular Knoxville girl, and they have a very pleasant home in Jellico, where Mr. Templeton has built up a law practice that en- gages all his time. At present he represents the Louisville & Nashville Railway and several of the large mining companies in the courts. Al- though a Democrat, he was elected justice of the peace in a strong Re- publican district. He is at present chairman of the board of trustees of the high school there. He is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Jellico.
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