History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 104

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1013

USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 104

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Their parents removed from Virginia in 1806 to Sumner Co., Tenn .; afterwards to Stewart County, same State, where they remained until 1811, when they returned to Sumner County, and settled on the head-waters of Bledsoe's Creek. They died in 1813, within a week of each other, of milk-poison. The brothers were now orphans and penni- less, their father having lost his estate in disastrous mercan- tile operations in Virginia. But they were not friendless. He who " tempers the winds to the shorn lamb" had pre- served to them foster-parents in the persons of their aunts, Octavia Brown and Lydia Tompkins, and their uncle, Maj. Josephus H. Conn, who gave them homes and such educa- tion as the country afforded.

Their uncle, Maj. Joe H. Conn, was a remarkably finc- looking man, of great energy and courage. He commanded a battalion and gallantly fought in all of Gen. Jackson's campaigns. He was a member of the General Assembly in 1818, and, agreeably to the custom of the times, fought a duel,-sole way of settling difficulties arising in the heat of political debate. Ile was an ardent admirer of Gen. Jackson, occasionally acting as second in some of the gen- eral's difficulties. He was never married, and died in 1820.

Losing their aunts about this time, James and Josephus were thrown upon their own resources. James had already chosen the profession of medicine, had graduated at Phila- delphia, and, one year later,-1821,-married Marmaduke Williams' daughter, and settled in Tuscaloosa, Ala., achier- ing, some years later, the enviable reputation of first phy- sician and surgeon of his adopted State.

* Condensed from memoir by Le Roy J. Halsey, D.D.

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Josephus-four years his brother's junior-not so far advanced in his studies, was left to choose his vocation and shape his own course in life. He had obtained a " penny- royal old-field schooling," polished with a smattering of Latin and Greek at the academies of Hall, Macquerter, and the Rev. Creighead, of Davidson. About this time, at the age of seventeen, his pecuniary resources running low, he looked about him for some way of replenishing his ex- chequer : as he expressed it, " it was a ground-hog case with him." Listening, one day, to the matchless oratory of the silver-tongued orator of the Nashville bar, Felix Grundy, and being greatly charmed therewith, he deter- mined to become a lawyer. With this end in view, young Guild sought and obtained employment of Anthony B. Shelby, a gentleman of wealth and clerk of the Circuit Court. His arrangement with him was to take care of the office, receiving as compensation therefor his board. It is hardly necessary to say that these duties were well per- formed. They were not onerous, however, and ample time was afforded the young aspirant for the study of Blackstone and Coke on Lyttleton. How well he improved his time his knowledge of these authors, as evinced in many a sub- sequent fiercely-contested battle in the legal arena, fully at- tests. He remained with Mr. Shelby one year, when he came to Nashville, and continued his reading under Col. Ephraim H. Foster. A graphic account of his induction into this office is given in "Old Times in Tennessee," a book by the subject of this memoir. He remained with Col. Foster eighteen months, at the end of which time he was licensed to practice by Judges Haywood and White of the supreme bench, and hung out his shingle in Gallatin in the fall of 1822 and began the practice of law. By his strict attention to business and assiduity in the preparation of his cases, together with the sympathy he readily found in the old friends of his deceased relatives, he soon rose to some distinction for a young man ; he was popular in his manners, and spent his money freely, but he did not forget to repay his pecuniary indebtedness to his friends indeed. IIe was a contemporary of Hon. Bailey Peyton, school- mates and fellow-frolickers, started in the same profession, at the same time, now appearing in the same cases with and now against each other. They extended their practice to the adjoining counties of Wilson and Smith, and were generally regarded as a fast and good young team. They were frequent visitors of Gen. Jackson, and shared with him his love for the blooded horse. They rode blooded horses themselves, and when fees were few amused them- selves and replenished their purses by racing their horses. An account of the old kings, race-trained by them and rode by Peyton, appears in "Old Times in Tennessee."

Young Guild, in 1826, finding that he could support a family, courted and married the beautiful daughter of Maj. George D. Blackmore, a Revolutionary soldier, Indian- fighter, and pioneer of Tennessee. Their children have been Bettie, married to Col. Baxter Smith, who commanded a regiment and oftentimes a brigade in various battles in the war of the States; Florence, married to Capt. Thomas L. Dodd, of Kentucky, who commanded a company in various battles of the South, and who fought with distinc- tion; George and Walter, also in the service of the South.

The former, a captain, fought in every important battle of the war, and was in the last battle at Bentonville. Capt. Dodd, Col. Smith, and Capt. Guild are all members of the Nashville bar. Walter Guild volunteered as a private at the age of seventeen, and fought in the battles of Bull Run, Murfreesboro', Chickamauga, and others, was cap- tured in the Morgan raid into Kentucky, and was a prisoner for a long period in the prison of Camp Douglass. He died in August, 1879. Judge Guild was elected to the House of Representatives of Tennessee in 1833-36. In 1836 he raised a company of volunteers for the Florida war; was elected lieutenant-colonel of the First Regiment with Gen. Trousdale, colonel. This regiment formed part of Arm- strong's Brigade of Tennessee Volunteers. They marched to Alabama and compelled the Creeks to move to their homes west of the Mississippi, as per treaty, thence to Florida, taking part in the engagements of that energetic campaign. Judge Guild, in the fall of 1837, was elected to the Senate, composed of members from the counties of Smith and Sumner. In 1845-46 and 1851-52 he was a member of the House. He advocated the common-school system of the State inaugurated during the ten years of his service in the Legislature. In 1852 he voted for the rail- road system of the State, and many of the statutes found in the code bear the impress of this active, able, and effi- cient member of the State Legislature. In 1844 he was Democratic Presidential elector, voting for Polk and the annexation of Texas, and an elector for the State at large in 1852. In 1860 the judge was elected without opposi- tion one of the chancellors of the State, occupying the bench of the Seventh Chancery Division. At the election in February, 1861, on the question of seceding from the Union, he and the people of the State, by a majority of nearly sixty thousand, voted to remain in the Union, hoping that the peace congress would adjust the difficulties and the Union be preserved. That in this the people of Ten- nessce failed is now become matter of history. Judge Guild's feelings and home were with his native South ; though not in the army, he sympathized with the Southern States, not believing in the doctrine of a portion of the States coercing other States of the same Union. His sons and kindred volunteered in the service of the Confederate States. Although Judge Guild had spoken in all the can- vass in aid of Governor Johnson's elevation to the chief magistracy of the State, yet no sooner had he attained to that position when he issued a warrant for the judge's ar- rest and placed him in the penitentiary of the State, and soon after, as a political prisoner, sent him to Fort Mack- inaw, where he remained until exchanged for Judge Ritter, of Kentucky.

Previous to the war Judge Guild had accumulated a fine estate. This was greatly reduced after his arrest by the devastation ever attendant upon war.

After the war, at its close, Judge Guild moved to Nash- ville and resumed the practice of his profession, which be- came largely profitable, enabling him to pay nearly twenty thousand dollars of debts contracted before the war, or which he felt bound in honor to pay to friends ruined by the war who held paper with his indorsement. Some of this paper was held by the relatives of friends who had

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died. And to his everlasting honor be it said that though these debts had no legal value the judge thought not of what he could be compelled to do, but only of what he ought to do,-what was right. Knowing this,-none bet- ter,-his course was plain, and he followed it as unerringly as the needle follows the magnet.

In 1870, Judge Guild was elected judge of the Law Court of Nashville, and discharged the duties of that responsible office for nearly eight years.

To this necessarily imperfect and brief sketch of the life of a remarkable man-one of nature's noblemen-it may not be out of place to add that now, at the advanced age of seventy-seven, his mind is as active and as brilliant as in the days of his youth ; he has lost none of his impetuosity and fire, and his ability has been increased by his long and varied experience.

The judge is a man of great versatility of talent, and has been remarkably successful on the turf, for fifty years a leading politician in every Presidential election, always advocating the principles of the Jacksonian Democratic party.

JUDGE NATHANIEL BAXTER.

Nathaniel Baxter was born Nov. 13, 1812, at the Narrows of Harpeth River, in that portion of Davidson Co., Tenn., now included in Cheatham County. He is of honorable English ancestry, his great-grandfather emigrating to Mary- land in the early days of that commonwealth. From thence his descendants went to Virginia and North Carolina. In this latter State, Jeremiah, father of Nathaniel, was born in 1777. He removed to Davidson Co., Tenn., in 1809, and settled near Nashville. After two years' residence he re- moved to the place where Nathaniel was born, and died in 1833.

Nathaniel moved with his parents to Maury County in 1831, and attended Jackson College, in that county, during the years 1834-35. In 1836 he commenced to read law in the office of Hon. Edmund Dillahunty, a sound lawyer, a distinguished judge, and an elegant gentleman. Such an associate exercised a marked and beneficial effect on the mind of the young student, and did much to influence his later career.

In July, 1836, Mr. Baxter enlisted for six months to serve in the Seminole Indian war in Florida, from which he was mustered out and returned to Tennessee in the spring of 1837, and continued his law-studies with Judge Dilla- hunty. In September of same year he was licensed to prac- tice law, and only a week later married Miss Martha O. Hamilton, daughter of William Hamilton, Esq., of Nash- ville.

On Jan. 1, 1838, the young attorney opened an office for the practice of his profession in the town of Columbia, but removed, May 1st, to Lewisburg, Marshall Co., where he resided till the fall of 1842, losing, in 1839, his wife, who left an infant child, and marrying, in 1842, his present wife, Miss Mary L., daughter of Dr. John R. Jones, of Duck River.

The personal popularity of Mr. Baxter was so great that,

in 1841, his friends persuaded him to become the candidate for the Legislature, to complete the Whig organization and aid in electing James C. Jones, the Whig candidate for Governor. Leading a forlorn hope, the Whig party being largely in the minority, he was not elected, although re- ducing greatly the usual Democratic majority in the district.

This gallant contest attracted the attention of the State Legislature, and it elected him attorney-general for the ju- dicial district including Maury, Marshall, Giles, and Hick- man Counties, in November of the same year. He removed to Columbia in 1842, and resided there until the spring of 1847, when he resigned his office and removed to Nashville.

In 1852, Governor William B. Campbell tendered him the pro tem. appointment of attorney-general for the judicial cir- cuit including Williamson, Davidson, and Sumner Counties, Robert C. Foster (3d), who held that position, having re- signed. At about the same time, Hon. Thomas J. Maney, circuit judge of the same circuit, tendered his resignation, and a petition, signed by all the members of the Nashville bar, save three, was presented to Governor Campbell to ap- point Mr. Baxter judge, instead of attorney-general. On reception of the petition, Governor Campbell offered Mr. Baxter his choice of the two positions.

In consideration of the high compliment paid him by his associates, and to show his appreciation of it, Mr. Baxter relinquished the lucrative position of attorney-general, which was in the line of his profession, and accepted the empty honors of a circuit judgeship, with a salary of fifteen hun- dred dollars. In this he perhaps made a mistake, and might well have exclaimed, "Save me from my friends !"

At the end of the pro tem. appointment, Judge Baxter was elected to the same office by the Legislature of 1853- 54 for the term of eight years; but, as the State Con- stitution . was in process of amendment, the office, by the new constitution, was declared vacant, and referred to the people, who in May, 1854, elected him without opposi- tion. When this term expired the country was convulsed by the great civil war. The Federal army was in possession of the State, the voice of the people no longer recognized as an elective power, and the appointment of the judiciary in the hands of a military Governor not in sympathy with the people or the judge, for, although previous to the out- break of war his sympathies were all in favor of the pres- ervation of the Union, when all efforts at compromise and peaceful adjustment failed, and hostilities actually com- menced, and the Union was dissolved, he took sides with his kindred and his people, and linked his fortune with them for good or for evil, for weal or for woe. He took no active personal part in the war, however, except to relicve the suf- ferings of his friends, when within his power, and spent most of his time in the States south of Tennessee. Four of his sons were in the Confederate service. The war over, Judge Baxter returned to Nashville and engaged again in the practice of law, continuing therein until the close of 1868. The next year he spent on a farm in the country.

In 1870 he was re-elected circuit judge, and held that position until the term expired in 1878. In that year he was again a candidate for the same office, but was defeated and returned to the practice of the law, in which he is now engaged.

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FARM ME SAMIIEI WATKINS AN HILLSDADOLICH PIKE FOUR MILES SOUTH OF NASHVILLE TENN

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BIOGRAPHIES.

As a judge, Mr. Baxter was particularly noted for his good judgment, being solid rather than brilliant, and mak- ing few mistakes in his decisions. In all actions of life he was conservative, and weighed matters carefully before making plans or giving decisions, and always, as friend, counselor, or judge, was true, chivalric, and honorable. He was a popular man, from the fact that he was above double dealing.

EDWARD H. EAST.

Edward H. East was born near Nashville, in Davidson Co., Oct. 1, 1830, and is the son of Edward H. East, deceased, who emigrated to Tennessee from Henrico Co., Va., in the year 1806. His mother was Celia Buchanan, who had also emigrated from Virginia. Judge East came from the stock of the earlier settlers, and was the ninth child.

Judge East graduated at the Lebanon Law School in 1854, and at once commenced the practice of his profession at Nashville, where he has remained ever since. He has represented his county in several sessions of the General Assembly, has been twice elected chancellor for the Nash- ville district, and was nominated and confirmed as United States district attorney, which position he declined to accept.

He has been actively connected with several of the public institutions of the State, was for many years president of the Tennessee Hospital for the Insane, and filled the same position iu the School for the Blind. Is a member of the board of trust of the Vanderbilt University, and was the first president of that board. Is also a member of trustees of the University of Nashville, and at present is a member of the board of managers of the State Normal School.

The firm of which Judge East is a member is now and has been for many years the attorneys of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway, with its entire system of roads.

Judge East adhered to the Federal government in the secession of 1861, and filled the office of Secretary of State under Governor Johnson until the latter became President of the United States.

In politics, Judge East cannot be better located than to call him a Whig of the Henry Clay school ; in this he has followed in the ancestral line.

When Andrew Johnson succeeded to the office of Pres- ident of the United States, he called Judge East to Wash- ington and tendered him any position then open, all of which he declined.

Judge East is as well known as any man in Davidson County. He is still engaged in the practice of the law at Nashville.

The prominent position occupied by Judge East as a lawyer is largely owing to his strength before a jury. If this strength be analyzed, it will be found to consist in his profound knowledge of human nature, his ability in hand- ling witnesses, his ingenuity in arrangement of his plea ; he may not always have the law on his side, but every pos- sible aspect of the case favoring his client is with consummate

ingenuity presented in plain, terse, and forcible language ; his manner is sincere, his illustrations apt and forcible, his memory remarkable, nothing susceptible of a favorable construction omitted. He makes a strong, ingenious, witty, and forcible plea, and his success is the explanation of his large and lucrative practice.

SAMUEL WATKINS.

Samuel Watkins was born in 1794 in Campbell Co., Va. ; his father, Jacob Watkins, was of English descent, one of three brothers whose descendants are scattered through the South.

His mother was of Welsh origin, but her family record is not obtainable. . His father and mother both died in the infancy of the subject of this sketch. At their death he was bound to a Scotch family, whose cruelty attracted neighbor- hood notice, and the court took Samuel from them and placed him with the family of J. Robertson, the son of Gen. James Robertson ; here he learned to make himself gen- erally useful, and, besides the care of crops and animals, he learned to make shoes and to weave cloth, which at that time was a domestic pursuit.

Subsequently he joined the United States army and served in the war against the Creek nation, under Gen. Jackson, and later joined the army at New Orleans.

When peace was declared he returned to Nashville and learned brick-making. From 1815 to 1827 he pursued" this craft with that of bricklaying as a journeyman. In 1827 he began business for himself, and houses of his erect- ing abound, prominent among which may be mentioned the First Baptist church, on Summer Street, and the Second Presbyterian church.

From 1827 to the opening of the late war, in 1861, Mr. Watkins was the most prominent builder and brick-maker in Nashville. In this business he was very successful. He early selected a farm for the home of his old age, first renting, and afterwards buying, the fine farm of nearly six hundred acres which he has since occupied, on the Hills- boro' pike; this purchase he made in 1844.

The war made sad havoc in his property ; his city build- ings were seized and occupied for war purposes for years, his fine park property demolished, his farm was the seat of battle, his mansion ransacked and robbed, fine shade.trees, beyond price for their shade and beauty, fell before the axe of war, and a loss inflicted on a peaceful non-combatant of over three hundred thousand dollars, comprising property in negroes, buildings, cattle, and crops. Mr. Watkins was sixty-seven years old when the war broke out, took no active part against the government, and was opposed to the war, but he was, with many others of like position, a great loser by the presence of hostile forces. Gathering up the frag- ments of his property, he has since the war been identified with banking, manufacturing, and building.

His connection with the gas company began in 1862, when Gen. Barrow, the former superintendent, was taken a military prisoner ; from that date Mr .. Watkins' interest in this company has increased, until he is now the largest

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stock holder. Besides being one of the largest real-estate owners in Nashville, he is a director in the Fourth National Bank, in the Tennessee Manufacturing Company, and presi- dent of the Nashville Gas-Light Company.

Mr. Watkins is a member of the First Presbyterian Church. Before the war he had built a church on his farm, which was used principally by the Methodists ; this church edifice was destroyed by the soldiers camped in the neigh- borhood.

Mr. Watkins was never married; at the same time, he is far from representing the typical " old bachelor," for he has kept a warm heart in his bosom, and, though nearly ninety years old, his ear, his heart, and his hand are open to all human suffering.

In politics he was a Whig and opposed secession, but since the war he has sympathized with the Democratic policy. As a public man he has been patriotic and liberal, actively aiding in all progressive measures, and freely con- tributing towards the educational or religious advancement of the city without regard to denominational lines. His gift of a public park is well known.

His private life has been characterized by extreme sim- plicity and economy ; his manner entirely free from ostenta- tion, the humblest can approach him without fear of rebuff.

He has found his pleasure in the quiet discharge of his duty, using wealth not as a supreme good in itself, but as a means of usefulness. He has built many a home or store for a worthy man who had not the means to pay for it at the time, and generously waited for payment till it could be made. He believed that he had helped to make a better citizen of a man when he had thus secured him a home and identified him with the interests of the city.

To the young man Samuel Watkins stands as a model of integrity, industry, prudence, and economy, faithful in the place assigned him by divine Providence, and doing what he can for the best welfare of those around him. His most intimate friends have not known to how many he has been as a father and a friend; the distressed have never ap- pealed to him in vain.

DANIEL S. DONELSON.

Samuel Donelson, the youngest son of Col. John Donel- son, was a boy when his father landed the " Adventure" at the Big Salt Lick, now Nashville, with his family. As a family reminiscence it is stated that he displayed great courage by frequently firing upon unfriendly Indians during the voyage down the Tennessee River. He volunteered his services and was a soldier in the Nickajack campaign. Reared in a school of hardships and dangers, he became noted for his manly courage, his womanly affection, and his remarkable talents. He married Mary, the only daughter of Gen. Daniel Smith, of Sumner County, in 1797. He commenced farming on Drake's Creek, Sumner County, but soon after read law, and became a partner of Gen. Andrew Jackson, having their office in Nashville. He died in 1802, leaving three boys,-John, Andrew J., and Daniel S., an infant.

Daniel S. Donelson was born in Sumner Co., Tenn.,

June 23, 1801. His grandfather Smith was a man of education, and prepared him for Dr. Priestly's school, from which he went to the West Point Military Academy, and graduated June 30, 1825, with the first honor ; promoted second lieutenant Third Artillery July 1, 1825 ; resigned Jan. 22, 1826. In 1830 he married Margaret Branch, a daughter of Governor John Branch, of North Carolina. She was a woman of fine personal appearance, of polished manners, of accomplished education, thoroughly conversant with managing her household, and a devout Christian. This marriage was blessed with eleven children,-Lizzie B., married William Williams; Mary A., married James G. Martin ; Sarah S., married William Bradford; Emily G., married James Horton ; Rebecca W., married David Dis- mukes ; James B., married Josephine Evans; Samuel, married Jessie Walton ; Martha B., married John M. Shute; Susan B., married Marcus Dismukes ; J. Branch, married Jennie Alexander; and Daniel S.

After his marriage he commenced planting in Florida, but his health compelled him to return to the farm where he was born. Being a thoroughly practical business man, he was enabled at different times to add to this farm and make it one of the best in the State. He was a most affec- tionate son to a fond mother ; he was devoted to his family, and studied their welfare and happiness. In politics he was a Democrat of the old school, well informed in the history and government of his country. Several times was he called to represent his county in the Legislature and as Speaker of the House of Representatives. He discharged the duties with dignity, ability, and impartiality. As a speaker he was earnest and instructive, demanding of his opponent the same courtesy that he always showed. No one deplored it more than he did, but with a prophetic eyc he saw war, inevitable war, and, believing the South to be right, he was willing and ready to resist.

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History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 104

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1013

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1013