History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 113

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 113

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Two of the children of David McGavock and Elizabeth McDowell died in infancy ; the survivors, six sons and a daughter,-all of whom have now passed away to the better world,-were among the most thrifty and enterprising people of the county. James and John, who were the two eldest, married sisters, the daughters of Mr. Kent, of Wythe Co., Va., and inherited in equal shares one of the quarter sections located by their father north of the river. Francis McGavock, who married the daughter of John Harding, settled upon a fine estate on Richland Creek, near Nashville, and enjoyed a long and happy life there. Randall McGavock married and moved to Louisiana, where he reared a highly respectable family, some of whom re- turned to the ancestral home in Virginia and some to Ten- nessee. Lysander McGavock, who married Elizabeth Crock- ctt, of Virginia, settled in early life on a thousand produc- tive acres near Brentwood, in Williamson County, where his children still reside in the delightful home left them by their parents. Hugh and Sally, the two younger children, were twins. The former inherited many of the noble quali- ties of his father; the latter married Joseph L. Ewing, who for many years was a leading man in his section of the county, enjoying in a large degree the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens.

Later in life David McGavock married the widow Hub- bell as his second wife, by whom he had two children, one of whom died young. The other was Dr. David McGavock, who inherited from his father the family mansion, and occu- pied it until his death, in 1865.

These were the children of David McGavock, who, re- spectively, have many descendants in the city and county. For the last thirty-two years of his life he was register of the land-office, to which he was elected by the Legislature,

and the books so long kept by his own band bear witness that he was a man of method and a most faithful public servant. Nor had his education been neglected. His father, James McGavock, Sr., who was born in the county of Antrim, Ireland, in 1728, and came to this country when a young man, had married, in 1760, Mary Cloyd, a daughter of David Cloyd, of Rockbridge Co., Va., and had been altogether the architect of his own fortune. He was qualified, therefore, to give his son David the most useful of lessons and to teach him bow to work his way onward and upward, as he had done himself, by constant diligence and uniform integrity in all his dealings with his fellow-men. And right well did the dutiful son profit by these lessons. His father had no doubt advised him to make a comfortable home in the Cumberland Valley before he removed his young wife and children to the then Far West. At all events, he labored with persistence and energy to this end, visiting his old home in Virginia once a year, and fore- going the happiness of constant companionship with his wife and children that he might lay the foundation of future competency, perchance of fortune, and better prepare his new home for the reception of her who was to be its mis- tress. About six years he labored in this way, and then, when all was in readiness, removed his little family to a home which proved one of comfort and happiness for the future, and in later life one of affluence. David McGavock was a fair specimen of the best young men from Virginia and North Carolina who laid the foundations on which rests the superstructure of Tennessee and its' beautiful capital, and none among the solid old pioneers left a fairer name or a better heritage to their descendants than did he to his numerous and influential posterity.

James McGavock, Sr., like all his descendants, was a great lover of land, for he believed, as did Lord Mansfield, that real estate is the best estate in the world. He acra- mulated a large fortune in lands located in Virginia and Tennessee, and most of them are still in the possession of his descendants. His reputation is that of an honest, in- dustrious man, of liberal principles, honored as a public officer and beloved as a kind neighbor and friend.

Randall McGavock, the fourth son of James McGavook, Sr., was the assistant of his brother David in locating the early lands, and his deputy in the land-office. He was mayor of Nashville in 1824, and afterwards clerk of the Circuit Court of Davidson County and of the Supreme Court of Errors and Appeals, after which he removed to Williamson County and settled on his vast tract of excellent land near Franklin, now owned and occupied by his son, Col. John McGavock, where he died at a ripe old age in 1854. He was a citizen of high character and of unques- tionable integrity, and, though spending all the latter part of his long and useful life in Williamson, he was still much devoted to Davidson County.

FRANCIS MCGAVOCK.

Francis McGavock, third son of David McGarock, was born Jan. 31, 1793, in Wythe Co., Va. At the age of two years he moved with his father to Nashville, Tena.,

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A. M. Johnson

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BIOGRAPHIES.

where he was reared and educated, completing his course under Dr. Priestly in the University of Nashville, in the year 1813.

He was for half a century one of the solid and thrifty men of Davidson County. In carly life he had charge of the State office for the registration of lands, as had his father before him for years, and was remarkable for the fidelity and accuracy with which he discharged his duties. By industry and good management he soon added many valuable acres to his inheritance, and his fortune was still further advanced by his marriage, Oct. 23, 1823, with Amanda, daughter of John Harding, the pioneer, after which he settled on a well-selected plantation in the Rich- land Valley, adjoining that of his father-in-law, now known as Belle Meade, six miles from Nashville. There he reared his children,-namely, John Harding, David H., Elizabeth, and Amanda,-and there he continued to reside with his estimable wife until the time of his death, Dec. 24, 1866.

It is safe to say that few men have lived so nearly ac- cording to the Golden Rule as did Francis MeGavock, and fewer still whose memories are more sincerely reverenced by so wide a circle of friends and neighbors.

The old McGavocks of Davidson were all men of high standing in the county. It was a family maxim that they should love labor for the physical and mental health that it assures, even though not immediately necessary for daily subsistence, and they closely supervised their own fields. They were men of large stature, of great decision of char- acter, and of exemplary habits.

They took a lively interest in all public affairs, and were ever careful in the bestowal of their suffrage at elections, insisting that the reliable character of candidates was quite as essential as the correctness of their political principles, and yet they eschewed all political office themselves, per- sistently declining to become candidates, and wisely adher- ing to the maxim that " the post of honor is the private station."

. An old friend who fondly cherishes the memory of Fran- cis McGavock says he was one of the very finest gentlemen of the old sclrool in the State of Tennessee. Always given to hospitality, he was ever ready to lend a helping hand to young men who deserved his aid, and he left a son who lives in the style of his fathers upon highly-cultivated acres, out upon the banks of Stone's River, who is one of the best specimens of the old stock in the county.

COL. A. W. JOHNSON.

Anthony Wayne Johnson was born in New Hampshire, July 10, 1797. He is of English descent, and the young- est of ten children of Oliver Jolinson and IIannah George, who moved to Tennessee about 1801. Oliver Jolinson was a farmer, his plantation lying opposite Lick Branch, across the river from Nashville. He leased the two ferries oppo- site Nashville. The upper ferry crossed from just above Broad Street ; the lower one at a point now occupied on east side of the river by the Indiana Lumber Company.

He and his wife died of what was known as the " Cold 54

Plague," in April, 1816, within three days of each other. Col. Johnson attended the common school, then Cumber- land College, and entered business with his brother-in-law, David C. Snow, at the age of fifteen. He succeeded Mr. Snow, whose impaired health caused Col. Johnson to take direction of the business, which was managed advantageously for Mr. Snow's family. In 1827 he organized the firm of Johnson & Rayburn, wholesale commission house, which was successful. From 1837 to 1842 he was member of the firm of Johnson, Rayburn & Co., Nashville, which was, and of Price, Johnson & Co., New Orleans, which was not successful, chiefly on account of the absence of the conservative management of Col. Johnson's personal direc- tion. From 1843 to 1847 he was member of the firm of Johnson, Weaver & Co., composed of the late lamented .James Johnson and the late Dempsey Weaver, two of the most successful and honorable merchants that ever did busi- ness in Nashville.

On expiration of this partnership he became associated with Col. Granville P. Smith, the firm being Johnson & Smith, wholesale commission and produce merchants. He retired from this firm, and from active business, Jan. 1, 1857, with a handsome competency, having been successful in all enterprises of which he had the active and sole con- trol.

Hle has had a long business career, embracing extensive transactions, during which no one ever lost a cent by in- dorsing for him or for any firm with which he was con- nected. He invested his means in real estate, which he improved, thus contributing to the wealth and prosperity of the city. Col. Johnson is now (1880) perhaps the oldest living inhabitant of Nashville. At one time he owned near three hundred acres of land on which East Nashville is now built, except the eighty-acre farm now owned by Governor Neil S. Brown, just outside of the corporate limits, which Col. Johnson sold to Ephraim H. Foster, and the balance, of two hundred acres, to N. Hobson and Robert Weakly. Col. Johnson's rule of life was personal probity and rigid punctuality, and the pride of his declining years was the manifestation of the confidence and esteem of the associates of his business carcer. He is a man of fine per- sonal presence, and having lived an active, temperate life, he is remarkably well preserved for his advanced years.

Socially and politically Col. Johnson is Democratic; in association a Mason and a Methodist, in which church he filled the usual lay positions, and for which he and a few others built " Hobson Chapel," a handsome edifice in the suburbs of East Nashville.

In public life he was colonel of volunteers, a magistrate, alderman, director in the State, also in the Union Bank of Tennessee, State senator, president of the Bank of Tennes- sce, which election he declined in 1861, president of the Broad Street Bridge Company, president of the Nashville Insurance Company, which during his administration was. signally successful, having when he left it six hundred thousand dollars surplus. He was twice married. His first wife was Elizabeth Hobson, daughter of Capt. William Hobson. Their union was in April, 1823. Of their chil- dren there are now living Col. William H. Johnson, promi- nent dealer in blooded live-stock near Nashville, and Susan,

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wife of W. G. Brean. His wife, Elizabeth Hobson, died in December, 1837. Six grandchildren, four daughters and two sous, are living in Virginia, -the children of his eldest daughter, Elenora, wife of the late Calvin Ferguson.

llis second wife was Mary E. Cheney, daughter of Capt. George S. Smith and widow of Hampton J. Cheney, of Louisiana, whose only child, Cupt. Hampton J. Cheney, is now a resident of Alabama. They were married July 10, 1838. Of their children three are now living: Dr. A. W. Johnson, Jr., physician, and George S. Johnson, farmer, in Alabama; and Mary E. Johnson, wife of Maj. John S. Bransford, banker, of Nashville. A view of Maj. Brans- ford's residence, the old Johnson homestead, will be found in this history.

Col. Johnson has contributed material for the history of Davidson County, of which he has been a resident from the beginning of the nineteenth century. He voted against secession, but when Tennessee formally joined its fortunes with the South he went with his State. Although in his eighty-fourth year, he is yet a fine-looking man, and his old homestead is one of the handsomest in Tennessee. The accompanying portrait of Col. Johnson is from a photograph taken in his eighty-third year.

JAMES WHITWORTH.

James Whitworth was born in 1816 in Sumner Co., Tenn. His grandfather came from Amelia Co., Va., and settled on the Cumberland River in 180G. Ilis father, James Whitworth, also born in Virginia, came to Teunes- see with his parents, and became the owner of a poor farm of about one hundred acres, on which he reared a family of four sons and seven daughters. The family is now widely scattered through the South and Southwest.

James was only thirteen years old when his father died. As one of the oldest he worked the farm for the support of the family. His mother was Ann Harding before her marriage, born in Virginia, and, early left a widow with this large family, struggled hard with the battle of life. The facilities of school education were poor. James worked the farm till he was twenty-two years old, but was not con- tented to remain, and with the proceeds of the sale of wood he had rafted down to Nashville he secured five months' schooling at Wirt's Seminary, in Sumner County. In 1840 he taught school one season in Smith County, and returning took further lessons at Wirt's. Returning home in July, 1841, he bought a few law-books, and devoured their con- . tents. Failing in his first efforts to enter a law-office, he was persuaded by his early and constant friend, Edmund Turner, of Sumner County, to visit Nashville. Here, with the added influence of John Trimble, he was received as a law student in the office of Messrs. E. H. and A. Ewing. His means were extremely limited. His mother had fur- nished him a bed; he slept in a back office, and boarded at the home of William Garrett, who took a great interest in him, gave him very low rate for his board, and never pre- sented a bill till the end of the year. Mr. Whitworth speaks of this contract for board as the first and only one

he ever made when he had no money to secure its fulfill- ment. He therefore keenly appreciates the kind generosity of this carly friend.

In September, 1842, he was admitted to practice at the bar. His first case of any importance was a suit against the Louisville and Nashville Turnpike Company, with the present Judge Jo. Guild as opposing counsel. A nice ques- tion of law was involved. The legal aspect of the case presented by our young lawyer was sustained, and though the case was appealed it was finally decided in his favor, and he won reputation by this success, receiving an offer of partnership from R. M. Williams, with whom he was asso- ciated for a while, when he became a partner with Messrs. E. H. and Andrew Ewing. This relationship continued until 1847, when a new firm, including Andrew Ewing, W. F. Cooper, and Mr. Whitworth, was formed, and car- ried on a successful business until 1853, when Mr. Whit- worth retired to a farm he had purchased, lying some five miles out of Nashville. In 1856 he was elected county judge, and held this responsible and honorable position for ten years. After the close of the war farming with free labor presented so many complications and uncertainties that Judge Whitworth decided to sell his fine farm of five hundred acres and return to the practice of law. Shortly after opening his office anew, gentlemen interested in the organization of a national bank sought his assistance, and offered him the position of its president. He accepted the proposal, and has held the office of president of the Fourth National Bank of Nashville ever since.

Judge Whitworth was active in the organization of the Tennessee Manufacturing Company, and its president for many years. He has been active in the councils of the Methodist Publishing Company, and has given the benefit of his sound financial judgment to this large business en- terprise, with which, as a Methodist, his religious sympa- thies were allied. Judge Whitworth has never held politi- cal office, though frequently solicited so to do. Ilis name has been prominently mentioned in connection with the office of Governor of the State. Ile has been identified with the development of the railroads and the bridge com- pany, and held office as director in a number of them.

In 1849 he married Martha Keeling, daughter of Dr. George Kecling, son of one of the first settlers of this county. Ile has four living children. His oldest son, George K. Whitworth, was recently elected county trustee.

Judge Whitworth's administration of the trying and re- sponsible position of judge of the County Court was char- acterized by integrity, sound practical sense, and kindness of heart." He is pre-eminently a clear-headed business man, and being thoroughly honest is therefore a safe adviser. He is often consulted by friends on matters of business, such as the management of estates, investments of money, and conflicting interests among neighbors. He is naturally a peace-maker, and has often aided his fellow-men in settling difficulties of various kinds and prevented much litigation. Hle has been a successful man in monetary affairs.

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JOHN HOWS.

John Hows was born near Raleigh, N. C., May 17, 1811. His father, John C. Hows, emigrated to Davidson County about 1816 with a family of six children, settled on Sam's Creek, lived in the county many years, and died at an advanced age.

The immediate subject of this sketch, John Hows, lived with his father until he had attained his ma- jority. Working at various vocations summers and attending school a portion of the year, and making good use of such opportunities as were presented, he acquired a good practical education. When twenty-six years of age, Dec. 14, 1837, he was mar- ried to Catharine D. Jones; her father, Jarvis Jones, came from North Carolina and settled on the Har- peth River before 1800, reared a family of six chil- dren, and died March 11, 1844. The first year after Mr. Hows was married he lived on a rented farm ; then purchased a place of his father and commenced

making himself a farm, and by industry and perse- verance has secured a large farm and a handsome property. While farming has been the business of his life he has also been interested in other matters. He has been called to fill some of the important offices of the county, including that of justice of the peace. In 1875 the law provided for only one as- sessor for the county, and Squire Hows was elected to fill that important position. Politically, he was formerly a Whig. Was opposed to the war and friendly to the national cause; a man that commands the respect and esteem of all who know him.

This worthy couple, representing two of the pioneer families who have aided in transforming the pri- meval forest. into a civilized community, are justly entitled to a place in local history. To them have been born fourteen children, eleven of whom are now living,-seven daughters and four sons.

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Photo. by Armstrong, Nashville.

John . Harding

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BIOGRAPIIIES.

JOHN HARDING.

John Harding, son of Gen. W. G. Harding, was born Jan. 5, 1831, in District Number Two, Davidson County, on the farm where he now resides. Mr. Harding received a good education. In 1850 he entered Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., but on account of illness subsequently completed his studies at Chapel Hill, N. C., and began the practical farmer's life he has since followed. His farm of thirteen hundred acres, where his father had lived before him, is one of the finest farms in the vicinity.

Mr. Harding has given attention to breeding and train- ing trotting-horses.

Ile married, March 28, 1853, Sophia W. Merritt, daughter of W. H. E. Merritt, of Brunswick Co., Va. His only child by this marriage was Sophia M. Harding, who married Granville S. Johnson. They have one son, named William Harding Johnson. Mrs. Harding died in August, 1855, and in December, 1856, Mr. Harding mar- ried his present wife, Mrs. Margaret A. E. Owen. They have three children,-Sclene M., William G., and John. Mr. Harding's life has been a quiet, uneventful one. His large farm has required his undivided attention.

COL. THOMAS L. BRANSFORD.

Thomas Louis Bransford was born in Buckingham Co., Va., Nov. 29, 1804, and died in Union Springs, Ala., Feb. 26, 1865. On his father's side he was of English and on his mother's of French Huguenot descent. His father, Thomas Bransford, moved from Virginia to Barren Co., Ky., in 1817, where, some four decades after, he and his wife, Ann Lee Snoddy, died.

Col. Bransford when a boy carried the mail four years on horseback to aid his father financially ; taught school for a brief period; and when twenty-one years of age, in 1825, moved to Gainesboro', Jackson Co., Tenn., where he con- ducted for a quarter of a century a prosperous mercantile business, until 1850, when he moved to Glasgow, Ky., where he remained until 1856, when he removed with his family to Nashville, Tenn., where all of his surviving children now reside.

Col. Bransford's ancestry on both sides were soldiers in the Revolution and against the Indians in Kentucky, Ten- nessee, and Southern States. One of the family (Samuel Bransford) was a graduate of West Point, and subse- .quently was Professor of Mathematics at West Point Academy, where he was accidentally killed while training the cadets in horsemanship.

During Col. Bransford's successful business career he was a member of the firms of Parrott & Bransford, Gaines- boro', Tenn .; Parrott & Bransford, Rushville, Ill .; Kin- naird & Bransford, Gainesboro', Tenn .; Joel W. Settle & Co., Gainesboro', Tenn. ; Watson M. Cooke & Co., Gaines- boro', Tenn ; Amonett, Fowler & Bransford, Amonett & Bransford, and Fowler & Bransford, Celina, Tenn .; and of the wholesale firms of Snoddy & Bransford, Louisville, Ky. ; Bransford, Mc Whirter & Co., Nashville, Tenn .; and Brans- ford, Goodbar & Co., Memphis, Tenn.

While residing in Kentucky he was elected president of the Nashville and Cincinnati Railroad Company, and a dele- gate to the Whig National Convention that nominated Gen. Scott for the Presidency, which Col. Bransford truly pro- dicted was the last Whig National Convention that would ever be held. In this connection, as further illustration of his foresight, it may also be stated that he truly predicted that the election of Buchanan was the last peaceable elec- tion of President that would take place in this country. As foreshadowed by bis apprehension, the subsequent election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency resulted in war, and each election since has been attended by troops at the polls or at the counting of the ballots. His sagacity was remarked, also, in the carly comprehensive railroad system which while in the Legislature of 1840 he devised for Tennessee, the ex- ecution of which-a line from Knoxville by Nashville direct to Memphis, Tenn .- would probably have prevented the flanking of Nashville on the one side by the Memphis, Clarksville and Louisville, and on the other by the Mem- phis and Charleston Railroads. The people of Tennessee now concede his superior judgment in this matter, and are endeavoring to build the line he then proposed.

Col. Bransford endeavored, in like manner, to show that Nashville should not contribute anything to build railroads to the north of that city, but to the south of it, from which direction only could Nashville ever hope to secure any trade, a proposition since so clearly demonstrated that it is now patent to all.

While a resident of Jackson Co., Tenn., Col. Bransford was a member of the Legislature; was elected elector in 1840, and again in 1844, on the Whig Presidential tickets; was the Whig candidate for Congress in 1843, and subsc- quently was nominated by the counties composing the con- gressional district for Governor of the State. On questions of the tariff, banking, etc., that formerly divided the Whig and Democratic parties, Col. Bransford was pronounced by President Polk to be the ablest debater he had heard in Tennessee; and President Johnson said of him that if the world had to be cut up into facts and figures, he would select Col. Bransford as the most capable, of his acquaint- ance, to perform that service.

Speaking of his death, the Macon, Ga., Telegraph said, " The death of such a man deserves more than a passing tribute. Without the advantage of an early education, through the intuitive force and energy of a mind highly endowed by nature, and ever in quest of knowledge and truth, Col. Bransford, unaided and alone, worked his way to position and wealth. His mind was a perfect chronology of the past. In the sphere of varied attainments no fact, however minute, but was ever ready at his command. In politics, in finance, and in commerce, throughout the States of Kentucky and Tennessee and the commercial cities of the North, his name is as familiar as a household word. The two leading faculties of his mind were memory and fact. In him their development was no less remarkable than accurate. As a public speaker and conversationalist, whether upon political topics, finance, currency, or internal improvements, the endless train of facts which he brought to bear rendered his argument invincible. On these and other subjects he wielded a powerful pen. The war be-

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History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 113

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