History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 105

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

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Early in 1861 he received from the Governor of Tennes- see the appointment of adjutant-general in the service of the provisional army of Tennessee volunteers, with the rank of colonel of cavalry, and was ordered to select a site and build a fort on the Cumberland River, which, when completed, was named " Fort Donelson." In July, 1861, he was made a brigadier-general in the provisional army of the Confederate States, and placed in command of the Eighth and Sixteenth Regiments of Tennessee Volunteers, and Four- teenth Georgia Regiment. With these regiments his first campaign was in Chent Mountain, Va. From this point he was ordered to report with his command to Gen. R. E. Lee on the coast of South Carolina during the winter of 1862. From this point he was ordered to report to Gen. Bragg, in command of forces at Corinth, Miss. He re- mained with Gen. Bragg during his campaign into Ken- tucky, commanding the Eighth, Sixteenth, and Fifty-first Regiments of Tennessee Volunteers, and occupied the ex- treme right of Bragg's army in the battle of Perryville, Ky., and with the same regiments was in the battle of Murfrees- boro', Tenn., always at the post of duty, fighting coolly but earnestly for what he believed to be right. He remained with Gen. Bragg until his retreat to Shelbyville. Hoping that rest would restore his health, he was placed in com- mand of the Department of East Tennessee and appointed

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BIOGRAPHIES.

a major-general. At Montvale Springs, on April 17, 1863, his noble spirit left his body at the command of Him who gave it. His last words were, " Justice and mercy."

He was a man of fine personal appearance, tall and large, fair complexion, blue eyes, and sandy hair. He had the bearing of a soldier to an eminent degree, stern when necessary, but by nature as kind as a woman should be. His remains and his wife's now lie in the churchyard at Hendersonville, Sumner Co., Tenn., a short distance from where he was born. He gave his life, his all, to the lost cause.

DR. THOMAS MENEES.

The paternal ancestry of the subject of this biographical sketch, Thomas Menees, M.D., of Nashville, were English ; the maternal were Scotch-Irish, from which has sprung so much of the sterling stock of this section of the country. His great-grandfather, Benjamin Menees, was a citizen of Amherst Co., Va., and served in the Revolutionary army, and was at the surrender of Yorktown. After the con. clusion of peace with Great Britain he moved to Pittsyl- vania County, in that State, but did not remain there long ; for in Putnam's " History of Middle Tennessee" mention is made of Benjamin Mences and his brother James as pioneers in this vicinity as early as 1788. It is probable they came earlier. James Menees settled at the point a few miles south of Nashville now known as Flat Rock ; it was long called Menees' Spring, however. A number of the latter's descendants still live in Neely's Bend, in Davidson County.

Benjamin Menees, very early after arriving in this region, settled on Sulphur Fork of Red River, in what is now known as Robertson County, which, however, was first named Tennessee County, and comprised a very con- siderable extent of the present territory of Middle Ten- nessee. Putnam's " History" contains the following in relation to the early organization of civil government in this section : " Tennessee County, third Monday in Jan- uary, 1791 .- Present, the Worshipful Benj'n Menees. The court was called, and adjourned till to-morrow." The same work contains a number of documents signed officially by him in 1790. For the protection of himself and family and neighboring settlers he erected a block- house, and equipped and drilled his sons and daughters in the use of fire-arms, all of whom became practiced sharp- shooters. This house was the headquarters of the settle- ment and general rendezvous in an Indian attack, of which there were many, and in which the members of his family of both sexes showed themselves skillful defenders. Whether or not he was a member of the Knoxville convention which formed the constitution of Tennessee of 1796 is not posi- tively stated. He died in his block-house in the year 1811.

James Menees, son of the former, was in special com- mand of the pioneer corps of defense in his father's settle- ment, and was a noted fighter of Indians, having had his horse killed under him in one contest, and in several others his clothing perforated with bullets. He was steersman of

a keelboat, claimed by some to have been the first which made the voyage from Knoxville to Nashville, and which met with a perilous adventure with the Indians at the fa- mous " Suck" in the Tennessee River, between Chattanooga and Mussel Shoals. The party received the Indian fire from the banks, but the boat was safely brought through the combined dangers of the raging stream and the savage foe in incredibly short time, without injury to her cargo of hardy spirits. He was one of the early sheriffs of Robert- son County, and served a long time in that capacity. One of his brothers, Benjamin Menees, was county surveyor. James Menees intermarried with Rebecca Williams, a graduate of the Moravian Female College of North Caro- lina, who died when their only child, Benjamin Williams Menees, was an infant.

Benjamin W. Menees volunteered with his father and several uncles under Jackson in the Creek war, and served under him in 1812-15 against the British. At the time of the battle of New Orleans he was prostrate in camp with an abscess of the liver, which discharged through the lungs, by which his life was nearly sacrificed. From hard service in field and camp he also contracted cataract, which entirely destroyed vision in one eye and seriously impaired the other during his life. He was recognized as a man of great intellectual vigor, and, but for the misfortune alluded to, as competent of a high order of success in any sphere of action. His integrity was proverbial, and as a farmer and stock-raiser by his industry and great energy, in spite of his affliction, accumulated a very comfortable estate. He married Elizabeth Harrison, a daughter of Thomas Harrison, of Davidson County, a woman of superior natural gifts and excellently educated for that early day. Her life was noted for exhibition of all the Christian vir- tues. They died during the civil war, ripe in years and rich in hope of the reward of well-spent lives, though deprived of the comforting presence of their sons, who were beyond the military cordon which environed them. The fruit of their union was seven children,-four sons and three daughters. Four died in infancy and youth. The survivors are Dr. George W. Menees, of Springfield, Tenn. ; Mrs. Emily E. Dunn, wife of Dr. J. K. Dunn, of Tur- nersville, Tenn. ; and Dr. Thomas Menees, the eldest, who was born on Mansker's Creek, in Davidson County, June 26, 1823.

The first years of the life of Thomas Menees, and in- deed a great portion of his manhood, were spent in Rob- ertson County, to which his parents removed shortly after his birth. He was raised on a farm, assisting in its labor and receiving his education in the schools of the region. He was earnest and apt in his studies, and made most of the opportunities afforded him. His parents were kind and dutiful, but inculcated and enforced habits of industry and self-reliance, and thereby implanted characteristics which have clung to him through life. After leaving school he taught for a brief time, but tiring of so inactive a pursuit he selected the profession of medicine, and en- tered on its study in the office of Dr. Robert K. Hicks, of Springfield, Tenn., in the year 1841. After a course of preliminary reading and observation of practice he en- tered the Medical Department of Transylvania University

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HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.

in the fall of 1842, and completed one course of lectures. At its close, being almost entirely dependent on his own exertions, though an under-graduate, he commenced prac- tice at his father's residence, a short distance from Springfield, and met with quite flattering success. He contemplated a return to Lexington in the fall of 1844, with the view of completing the curriculum of study necessary for a degree in his profession, but this was frus- . trated by a serious accident producing concussion of the brain, which for some time interfered with both study and practice. Upon his recovery he opened an office in Spring- field, and soon commanded a successful practice, and in 1845 was offered an equal partnership in business by his preceptor, Dr. Ilicks. It was accepted, and this amicable and prosperous association continued for ten years. Its dissolution was effected for the introduction in his stead of his brother, Dr. George W. Menecs, whom he desired to aid in establishing in practice. Without disturbance of his business relations with his partner, in the fall of 1845, Dr. Menees returned to Transylvania University, whence he graduated with high honor March 6, 1846.

A man of public spirit and fervid in temperament, Dr. Menees possessed earnest political convictions, and did not forego their expression in public discussions on the hustings. He participated more or less in every Presidential contest, from the memorable canvass of 1844 to the one to be ever remembered of 1860. In them he gained fame as a well- informed, forcible, fluent, and eloquent political disputant. Though, in the ardor of his public zeal, thus sacrificing time from his professional labors, he was averse to personal candidacy for office. One so competent, however, could not fail to be drafted into the' service of his party, and in 1849, in spite of his reluctance, he was nominated for the representative branch of the General Assembly from his county, which was strongly Whig, his politics being Demo- cratic. His competitor was a strong man and personally popular. On the eve of the opening of the canvass epi- demic cholera appeared in a portion of his professional cir- cuit, claiming his exclusive' attention, and before its dis- appearance prostrating him with an attack which nearly proved fatal. While yet quite feeble-a condition in which he remained during the canvass-the day of appointment for his first public meeting arrived, and, against the remon- strance of his friends, he left his bed and entered a contest which was conducted with great vigor and spirit for several months. It resulted in the defeat of his party by the slender majority of thirty-eight votes, but was truly a per- sonal triumph for the doctor, as the standing Whig majority was four hundred votes. After this he resumed his profes- sional duties, which he pursued unremittingly and in a wide field for seven or eight years.

In 1857 his party friends again demanded his service as a candidate for the State Senate, insisting that the political exigency was one of unusual importance,-the General Assembly being required to choose two United States sena- tors,-and that in him alone reposed their hope of being able to overcome the anti-Democratic majority of nine hun- dred votes in the district. Reluctant to abandon his private affairs and face odds so overwhelming, he at length yielded to the importunity, however, and engaged in the struggle

with his opponent, an able lawyer and politician of tact and experience, who had formerly represented the senatorial dis- trict. His competitor promptly espoused the aspirations for election to the United States Senate of a justly-distin- guished gentleman, one of the recognized leaders of his party in the State, whose home and great personal influence were in the central county of the district. This imparted animation and heat to the canvass, and the contest attracted attention throughout the State. The result was a triumph for Dr. Menees, who was elected by a majority of one hun- dred and twenty votes,-a change from the preceding elec- tion of more than one thousand votes. In his service in the State Senate he added to his reputation as a public man, and acquitted himself to the eminent satisfaction of his party associates.

His success in that contest led to his unanimous nomina- tion two years later as the candidate of his party to repre- sent the Hermitage district in the House of Representatives of the United States. This was averse to his wish, as the formidable majority, in his judgment, rendered his election an impossibility. He responded to the call, however, and entered the lists against a candidate of conceded ability and of rare powers of popular oratory. The canvass was long and arduous and marked with vigor and brilliancy, ench party being proud of its championship. In this contest he established a reputation as one of the first political debaters in the State, and one possessed of extraordinary declama- tory powers. The imposing majority was irresistible, how- ever, and he was unsuccessful of election.

In 1860 he was a member of the National Democratic Convention at Charleston, and when the schism in that body occurred adhered to the portion which subsequently assembled at Baltimore and nominated John C. Breckin- ridge for the Presidency. During the progress of that struggle he encountered a number of the most distinguished men in the State in discussion of the momentous issues involved.

In obedience to the inexorable logic of his political con- victions, he cast his lot with the Southern States when civil war proved the sequel of the fierce political conflict in which he had borne so prominent a part. The fervent espousal of their cause did not permit him to be a silent and inactive sympathizer. In the autumn of 1861 he became a candidate for representative in the first permanent Confederate Congress, and against a strong combination was elected by a large majority. In 1863 he was re-elected without opposition, and served until the dissolution of that government by the surrender at Appomatox. In the stormy period of that service he displayed ability and satisfactorily represented his constituency, and with it closed his political career.

He returned to his home in 1865, from which, by the fortune of war, he had suffered an enforced absence for nearly four years. He was feeble in health and reduced in fortune, the comfortable competency which had been acquired being much impaired. He resolved to resume his profession and devote to it his energy and the remainder of his life, and, desirous of a less laborious and more lucra- tive field, he opened an office in the city of Nashville, Oct. 20, 1865. This was his native county, and the activity of

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his career and affability of intercourse with the people, having made an extensive and favorable acquaintance, he rapidly entered upon business and assumed high rank in his profession. In 1873 he was elected professor of materia medica and therapeutics in the Medical Department of the University of Nashville, and performed its duties with great acceptability. In the year following, upon the fusion of the Medical Departments of the University of Nashville and Vanderbilt University, he was chosen professor of ob- stetrics and made dean of the latter faculty, and continues to occupy those responsible positions. His style of lectur- ing is clear, copious, and forcible, and richly illustrated from his large clinical experience, and gives great satisfac- tion to the numerous classes. He is a member of the Ten- nessee Medical Society, and has contributed a number of valuable papers to its published proceedings. At its recent meeting in Knoxville, by request he delivered a lecture on the uses of the obstetric forceps, for which the society ten- dered him a unanimous vote of thanks, and directed its publication when furnished with the manuscript. He is a permanent member of the American Medical Association, and frequently a prominent participant in its proceedings. For a number of years past he has represented the institu- tions with which he is connected in the Association of American Medical Colleges, and has taken an advanced position in regard to the objects of that body, and largely contributed to give weight and influence to its schedule for the elevation of the standard of medical education.

On the 21st of April, 1853, Dr. Mences was married to Elizabeth Hooper, daughter of Claiborne Y. Hooper, of Davidson County, and from this marriage four children were born,-a daughter who died in infancy, and three sons. Of these Dr. Thomas Williams Menees was the eldest. He received his degree in medicine from the Medical Depart- meut of Vanderbilt University in 1876, and commenced the practice of his profession in the office of his father. He was made associate demonstrator of anatomy in his Alma Mater soon afterwards, and performed its functions with fidelity and success. Moved by sympathy with the stricken community, he tendered his services to the Mem- phis Howard Association in the summer of the fearful epidemic of yellow fever, and fell a victim to the pestilence while in the discharge of that noble duty, Sept. 15, 1878, leaving a widow and one son, Thomas Williams Menees. The second son, Young Hooper Menees, is also a Vander- bilt graduate in medicine, and is in practice with his uncle at Springfield, Tenn. The third son, Orville Harrison Menees, received his medical degree from the Alma Mater of his brothers in 1879, and shortly after was elected to succeed his deceased brother in the associate demonstrator- ship of anatomy, and has since been elected demonstrator, in which office he now serves. The mother of these sons, a most estimable and accomplished woman, was removed by death April 24, 1861, and their early care and training was kindly assumed and faithfully performed by her sister, Mrs. Henry Hart, and they continued of her household until the marriage of their father, Aug. 4, 1868, to Mrs. Mary Jane Walker, widow of Hiram K. Walker, Esq., for years before the war editorially connected with the Nashville True Whig and also the Republican Banner.

A bright and charming little daughter of six summers is the addition to Dr. Menees' family by his union with his present wife, a lady of superior culture and Christian graces.

In his domestic relations and the general duties of citi- zenship, no member of the community is more highly estimated. Connecting himself with the Methodist Church in his youth, his membership is maintained without re- proach and consistently with his profession. Of positive views and convictions on all subjects which engage his interest, and steady of purpose, his attitude is never doubt- ful, while his demeanor is bland and conciliating within the limits of surrender of principle and sense of duty. Whatever enlists his energy is ardently pursued, and failure is only acknowledged by him in the presence of impossi- bility. As a friend he is frank and true. These are the qualities which have contributed to the success he has achieved in private life and in his profession also, as well as in the theatre of public affairs. Through a worthy ancestry identified with the foundation of this community, the honorable part he has borne in developing its character and still assists in maintaining it fitly entitles him to pro- per mention in its history.

THOMAS LA FAYETTE MADDIN, M.D.

Thomas La Fayette Maddin, M.D., was born in Colum- bia, Tenn., Sept. 4, 1826. His ancestry, paternal and maternal, were of Irish descent. His father, Rev. Thomas Maddin, D.D., was married to Sarah Moore near Louis- ville, Ky., and the subject of this sketch was their eldest son.

The father moved from Philadelphia, Pa., the residence of the family, to Louisville, Ky., in 1814, about the age of sixteen. He was educated in the faith of the Roman Catholic Church, but at an early age embraced Protestant- ism, and shortly after reaching his new home in the West became a licentiate of the Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Church. In due time he was regularly ordained as a minister of that faith, and for sixty years was beloved and honored for his valuable pulpit labors, upright and blameless life, and shining Christian example, through the States of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama. His repu- tation as an able and zealous preacher, enduring all the vicissitudes of the itinerant work, and his high character as a man, was co-extensive with the wide Methodist connec- tion in this country. He was frequently a member of the General Conference, and was the author of several religious works. He died, having nearly reached fourscore years, in June, 1874. The death of his wife preceded by several years.

Dr. Maddin received his education in the common schools of Middle Tennessee and North Alabama, where his family resided at various times, and it was completed in 1845 at La Grange College, under the presidency of Dr. Paine, now the senior bishop of the Methodist Church South. In his senior year at college, while pursuing his own studies, he was selected as tutor in the preparatory department of the institution,-a compliment alike to his

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proficiency and industry. For a year after leaving college he taught a private school to acquire means to enter upon the study of medicine.

His medical education was commenced under the auspices of Dr. Jonathan McDonald, of Limestone Co., Ala., a prominent physician of that region; and in addition to theoretical teaching from books, he enjoyed ample facilities for practical information in the extensive circuit of that gentleman's business. He improved them with zeal and assiduity until entering the Medical Department of the University of Louisville, whence, after completing the pre- scribed curriculum, he graduated. During his attendance at that institution the faculty was one of the most distin- guished in the country, including Charles Caldwell, Daniel Drake, and Samuel D. Gross.

Returning to Alabama, Dr. Maddin formed a partnership with his former preceptor near Athens, in that State. Until the retirement of the latter from practice a few years later, and for some time afterwards, he pursued an extensive and arduous professional labor in that region. Constant over- work in a large country practice proved a severe trial to a physical constitution never very stout, and enfeebled further by the effects of the malarial atmosphere in which it was performed, and, in consequence, he was induced to seek a location for city practice. His intention in this respect looked towards Memphis, but after leaving Alabama he was diverted to Nashville, where he arrived in the spring of 1853, and shortly afterwards commenced the successful career in which he still labors. The opportunities for med- ical observation offered him in Alabama were various and extensive, and a number of serious epidemics of typhoid fever gave him large experience in the management of that type of disease. The fortuitous introduction to quite a number of cases of this fever in the vicinity of his new location, and their successful treatment, was an auspicious commencement, and assisted in laying the basis of confi- dence in his skill as a practitioner which he yet maintains, with a very large clientage, of which it may be said that it is not surpassed in extent and character by that held by any other.

In 1854, Dr. Maddin commenced private tuition in the various branches of medicine, and erected rooms for that purpose. For several years his classes were large, and his reputation as a teacher kept pace with his growing repute as a practitioner. In 1857, Shelby Medical College was founded as the medical department of a projected university of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, which has since developed into Vanderbilt University, destined to become the great seat of learning in the Southwest. In the faculty of that college he occupied for two years the chair of anat- omy, when, upon the retirement of Professor John Fred- erick May, he was made professor of surgery. In both positions his lectures added to his fame as a thorough and exhaustive teacher. At the opening of the civil war the work of the college, like that of all institutions of learning, was suspended, and at its close was not resumed.

At the time of the fall of Fort Donelson, Dr. Maddin was in charge of one of the largest of the hospitals estab- lished in Nashville by the Confederate authorities. Upon the occupation of the city by the Federal forces, this with

others was appropriated to the Federal sick and wounded. A number of the Confederate sick previously under his treatment became prisoners, of course, but by the Federal inspector of hospitals were continued in his charge, his skillful management having attracted the attention of that officer and the surgical corps stationed in Nashville. During the subsequent years of the war, the large number of the wounded quartered in and near the city afforded Dr. Mad- din an extensive surgical experience, and he performed a number of interesting operations, notably two for traumatic aneurism. One of these required the ligature of the ex- ternal iliac artery, the aneurismal tumor extending from the inguinal region to a line drawn from the crest of the ilium to the umbilicus. The other was an aneurism of the left subclavian artery, necessitating the ligature of that artery in its middle third and a number of subsidiary ves- sels. This delicate operation, which from its difficult and hazardous nature was declared inadmissable upon consulta- tion with Dr. Frank H. Hamilton, then medical inspector of the Army of the Cumberland, was witnessed by that justly eminent surgeon, who also gave his assistance. It was pronounced by him, resulting as it did in the relief of the formidable tumor, a great surgical triumph. In the circuit of his private surgical practice, Dr. Maddin is cred- ited with the first successful operation in ovariotomy per- formed in Tennessee.

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History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 105

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