History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 114

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 114

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HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.

tween the States, 1861, found him at his home in Nash- ville, in the enjoyment of wealth and surrounded by an in- teresting family. . . . His memory will long be cherished by those who knew him best, and his life is a part of the history of his adopted State."

He was remarkably well informed, and was blessed with a most tenacious memory, his wonderful mind retaining what he read with seemingly as little effort as a sponge holds water. Few men were gifted with a loftier sense of honor, few possessed more carnestness and force of character, and who were more of an honor to their family name ! A hand- some marble shaft marks his resting-place in the beautiful Mount Olivet Cemetery, near Nashville. He married Lu- cinda A. Scttle, daughter of Willis and Nancy Prickett Settle, of Barren Co., Ky. His children were Matilda, wife of Russell M. Kinnaird, now (1880) of wholesale firm of Settle & Kinnaird, Nashville ; Lizzie Marshall, wife of Capt. Andrew J. McWhirter, for many years a leading -popular wholesale merchant of Nashville; Maj. John S. Bransford, banker; Capt. Thomas L. Bransford, Jr., mer- chant of New Orleans, La., deceased; William Amonett, a gifted son, who died in youth from injuries received by a full from a horse; Walter L., unmarried, named after his father's only brother, a resident of California ; and W. S. Bransford, of the wholesale hardware house of Ewing, Bransford & Gaines, Nashville.

The pioneer of the family, John Bransford, came to this country from England and settled in Virginia. He died in Richmond, Va., 1781, a few days after the surrender of the city to the British under Lord Cornwallis. John Bransford .(2d) was the great-grandfather of those of the name now in Tennessee. All of the name known reside in the South- ern States. The ancestors of Col. Bransford's grandmother, Judith Amonett, came from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and settled in Virginia in the reign of William III., about 1685 .*

As illustrative of the intolerance of opinion in the past, Col. Bransford's ancestry were not only driven from France .on account of its religious or Protestant belief, but his grandfather was imprisoned in Virginia, by order of Col. Archibald Cary, for permitting a Protestant minister to preach in his house.

Reference to the family of which Col. Bransford was a conspicuous member may be found in Dr. McFerrin's " Ilistory of Methodism in Tennessee," vol. iii., pages 481- 480

The portrait herein is a copy of a photograph taken after he became an invalid. IIe was literally capacitated to adorn any station in life. The retentive powers of his memory were simply marvelous. He was distinguished for his general information, and universally accredited with ability to thoroughly comprehend any subject he investigated.

Eminently practical, constitutionally upright and trust- worthy, public-spirited and generous, he was everything to his family, and leaves an honored name in the annals of Tennessee.

MAJ. JOHN S. BRANSFORD.

John Swecazy Bransford was born in Gainesboro', Jackson Co., Tenn., March 8, 1836; moved with his father's family to Glasgow, Ky., 1850; became an attache of the whole- sale establishment of Snoddy & Bransford, Louisville, Ky., 1853; attended Centre College, Danville, Ky., 1853-54; removed to Tennessee in 1856, and became junior partner in the wholesale dry goods house of Bransford, McWhirter & Co., Nashville ; was the " Jay Sweeazy Bcc" sobriquet corre- spondent of the Nashville Union and American to the National Democratic Convention in 1856 that nominated Buchanan and Breckenridge; and in 1860 was member of the wholesale firm of Bransford, Goodbar & Co., in Mem- phis, Tenn.

When war between the States was precipitated, in 1861, he joined a military company in Memphis, and shortly there- after was commissioned major of infantry by Governor Harris, and assigned to duty by Col. V. K. Stevenson, quartermaster-general of Tennessee, in charge of railroad transportation in Nashville. He retired from that post Feb. 20, 1862, with the army under Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston; was subsequently commissioned major in the Southern army, and appointed chief of railroad transpor- tation for the " Army of Tennessee."

During the attack on Chattanooga, 1863, Maj. Bransford remained at that post until all of the army stores and equipage had been removed, leaving there himself on the last train, although during the bombardment preceding the evacuation, which lasted for days, his office was riddled with shot and shell, all his assistants wounded, and his own inkstand knocked from under his hand by a cannon-ball. He was with Gen. Joe Johnston's army in the memorable campaign, of three months' incessant fighting, from Dalton to Atlanta, and at the cessation of hostilities, April, 1865, was with that command in North Carolina, having in four ycars' military service never been absent from duty, except on leave to visit his invalid father, who died in the South just before the close of the war.

Returning after the war to Nashville, May 20, 1865, he addressed himself to the task of adjusting the ante- bellum Memphis firm business, meantime engaging with the Hon. James Guthrie, president of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, to become general agent (chief officer) of that company in Nashville. When he took charge the Nashville station was some twenty thousand dollars in arrears, which the company lost. When he left the road the company gave him receipt for upwards of a thousand dollars more than he owed it, being clear "overs" that had accumulated in the correct management of the com- pany's business. Thus the station, instead of being thou- sands of dollars behind, as formerly, was, under his direc- tion, more than a thousand dollars ahead. He handled the company's funds, exceeding sometimes one hundred

* By reference to Bishop Meade's " History of Families in Vir- ginia" and other records we find that with the Huguenots that came from France to America were the Shandoin, La Shure, Maney, Maury, Fountaine, Sublett, Boisseau, Sally, Bondurant, Trabue, Agee, Dibrell, Depp, Du Pré, Guerrant, and Chasteen families, names familiar as household words in the Southwestern States during the nineteenth century.

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thousand dollars a month, for more than ten years, during which time he was never asked for nor gave a bond as security for the safe handling of the company's money. During this decade he was never absent from railroad duty; had a large money credit at end of every month ; reduced, unsolicited, during a heavy business the expenses of the station some five thousand dollars the first year, and turned over to the company several thousand dollars, proceeds of sale of " overs" merchandise that had accumulated in that station.

While in railroad service he was executor for his father's, also of his deceased brother's estate, the first being quite complicated, the latter involving partnership in St. Louis and New Orleans firms. These estates were wound up advantageously, and to the perfect satisfaction of all inter- ested, as evidenced by the affidavits of the heirs of each, which are on record in the office of the clerk of the county court of Davidson County. He was also trustee for various parties, whose interests, likewise, prospered in his hands. At the same time he was chairman of the board of stewards of Tulip Street Church, Nashville, during which period of several years it had a surplus fund on hand, a condition that had not before and has . not since existed. He was elected president of the Nashville and Edgefield Street Railroad Company, also a member of the board of Meth- odist Foreign and Domestic Missions ; for four years was a member of the board of trustees of Tulip Street Church, and secretary thereof; was director of Nashville Gas-Light Com- pany, Broad Street Bridge Company, Building and Loan Association Company, director of various street railroad companies, and cashier of national bank in Nashville, the pecuniary interest in which he disposed of, and has since declined active business engagements in order to endeavor to build up a constitution never very robust at any period of life.

In the sphere of finance Maj. Bransford was systematic and successful, never buying anything until ready to pay for it, avoiding security complications, and never spending more, but always less, than his income. An inflexible rule in his domestic affairs was never to wound his wife's sensi- bilities by having her at any time to come to him for money. On the contrary, her wants were anticipated, and on the first day of every month she was, without solicitation, furnished with funds sufficient to meet every requirement.

Maj. Bransford is the eldest son of the late Col. Thomas L. Bransford, who was, intellectually and by great force of character, one of the foremost men in Tennessee. Col. Bransford's biography and portrait will be found in this history.

The steamboat " John S. Bransford," named in honor of the subject of this biography, is now (1880) running on the Ohio and upper Cumberland Rivers.

If the proverb be true that " he who plants a tree is a benefactor," Maj. Bransford might claim to be doubly so, since few men, if, indeed, any other man in Davidson County, has planted so many and such beautiful trees. His taste for trees or love of the beautiful is so well known that his property has often been recognized as such by its characteristic culture and ornamentation.

He was united in marriage, Nov. 30, 1865, with Miss

Manie E. Johnson, daughter of Col. Anthony W. Johnson, a retired merchant of Nashville, the two families having ever since resided together as one household.

Maj. Bransford has only two living children, a son and a daughter, Johnson and Lizzie, the first-born, Mary Lu, having died Aug. 8, 1874, in early childhood. A view of his residence-one of the most attractive in Davidson County-will be found in this history.

He is of English and French Huguenot descent. His immediate ancestry on both sides came west from Vir- ginia to Kentucky and Tennessee. The family history, epitomized, may be found in Dr. McFerrin's " History of Methodism in Tennessee," vol. iii., page 481.

Maj. Bransford never applied for membership nor be- longed to any secret society. In politics he was inde- pendent, voting, so far as he could judge, for the best man or best interest of the community.

The investigation of maturer years led him, after somewhat extensive reading on the subject of religion, to discard dogma, bigotry, and superstition, and to regard profession of belief in them as an infinitesimal part of any man's character. To do right, as far as we know, and may be able to practice it for right's sake alone, regardless of promise of reward on the one hand or threat of punishment on the other, he es- teemed the most God-like action of which man is capable, the loftiest ideal in any sense attainable in practical life ; acts, not professions, constituting, in his opinion, all that there is in what may be termed the sentiment of religion.

He justly inherited aspirations for the freedom of opinion, his Huguenot ancestry having been driven from France for opinion's sake and his great-grandfather having been imprisoned in Virginia for allowing a Protestant min- ister to preach in his house.

Maj. Bransford declined to furnish his portrait for inser- tion in this volume, and though practically conceding the value of data such as herein given,-not to the public, but, maybe, to some one of an after-generation of the name, like his talented father, who felt such an interest in the past family record,-yet as to portraits he would fain believe that

"_howe'er baseless his vanity in other things, 'Twas all outside ' the shadow of what the substance seems.'"

DAVID H. MCGAVOCK.

David H. McGavock, second son of Francis MeGavock, and grandson of David McGavock, Sr., was born in Nash- ville, Tenn., Sept. 1, 1826. He was carly taught the value of time and money by his honored father, who reared his children to industry and economy on the farm. He grad- uated at the Nashville University, at Nashville, Tenn., in 1845, and immediately removed to Arkansas, where he continued to reside until 1849. In 1850 he was married to Willie, only daughter of William Harding (deceased) and Elizabeth Clopton, and settled on one of the finest farms in the State, which contains more than eleven hun- dred acres of choice land, situated on the Cumberland and Stone's Rivers, seven miles east of Nashville, where he now resides.

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Mr. McGavock has made many valuable improvements on his farm, among which we may mention a fine house, which is truly an ornament to the county, a view of which, together with its beautiful surroundings, may be seen in an- other part of this work. Mr. McGavock has inherited all the virtues of his honored father and grandfather, and what we say of them can be equally well applied to him. He has one son, Frank, who was born in September, 1851, and married Lulie Spence, Sept. 16, 1875. They have two children,-viz., Spence and Willie.

DR. WILLIAM J. CARTER.

From the pen of a personal friend we copy the following : " On the 27th of June, 1878, one of Tennessee's best and noblest citizens, Dr. William J. Carter, passed away.

" He was born in Halifax Co., N. C., on the 22d of May, 1808, and moved to Tennessee in the fall of 1816. At the age of forty-two, May 9, 1850, he married Miss Nannie Demoss, a daughter of Mr. Abram Demoss.

" He read medicine under the tuition of his brother, Dr. Bellfield Carter, attended the lectures at Transylvania Uni- versity, Lexington, Ky., practiced his profession the year 1830 at Charlotte, Dickson Co., and moved in 1831 to Harpeth River, at Dog Creek, in Cheatham County, where by close attention to business he made a large fortune. Ninety-two negroes were liberated for him by the late war, and at his death he owned two fine farms, besides valuable personal property.

" Dr. Carter was a devoted husband, kind father, and true friend. Many widowed mothers and orphaned chil- dren have received the benefits of his known skill, and have been fed by his bountiful charity with no other compensa- tion than the gratification of having fed the hungry and relieved the sick.

" We can scarcely comprehend the vastness of his energy, unless we remember the sparsely-settled districts in the immediate vicinity of Nashville, and that our city itself was but a small place at that time.

" He practiced over a territory forty miles square, and through a country almost wholly destitute of public thor- oughfares. When he moved to Ilarpeth his brother gave him a horse, and he bought of Dr. W. W. Berry fifty dollars' worth of medicines on credit. Dr. Berry told him his face was a sufficient guarantee of its payment.

" He has told us from the lips that are now forever silent that during his travels by day he was forced to carry a hatchet, to blaze a path through the forest, and to cut the impeding limbs from his path, so that when riding at night he would not be struck from his horse. Rain, hail, snow, frozen rivers, full creeks,-nothing kept him from his patients when called, it mattered not whether they were rich or poor. Often was he called to visit the sick across Big Harpeth when it was out of its banks, its waters rushing in very madness along its channel; nothing daunted, he plunged into the stream, and frequently landed many yards below on the other bank.

" Almost invariably was he correct in his diagnosis, and

being skillful in his treatment met with unusual success. The profession has lost one of its most useful members, his fumily a kind husband and devoted father, and the com- munity one of its most useful citizens."

He leaves a wife and three children,-Carrie F., An L., and Belfield F. Mrs. Carter is the youngest daughter of Abram Demoss, and was born in District Fourteen, Davidson Co., Oct. 19, 1828.

Abram Demoss was the son of Lewis Demoss, and was born in North Carolina, and came to Davidson County with his parents at a very early day, and settled on the Big Harpeth. He married Elizabeth Newsome, daughter of Francis Newsome, an carly settler in Davidson County. To them were born twelve children, nine of whom lived to be men and women grown. He was a very large farmer, own- ing some two thousand five hundred acres of good land. He was a man respected by those who knew him. He left a good name as the precious legacy to his children.

LEONARD B. FITE.

Leonard B. Fite was born Nov. 17, 1811, in Smith Co., Tenn. He was the son of Jacob Fite and Matilda Beard, from North Carolina. Jacob Fite was the son of Leonard Fite, who was the son of Johannes Fite, who emigrated to America from Germany at a date unknown. The family is one of the most remarkable of which we have a record for vigor of health and great longevity, and the fidelity with which they have observed that early injunction given to our reputed first parents, "to multiply and replenish the earth."

On or about the 10th of April, 1861, two interesting events in the history of Tennessee occurred. The one was the breaking out of the civil war, the other was the cele- bration of the Centennial birthday of Peggy Crosse Fite, grandmother of the gentleman whose life we are sketching. On that day five generations of the Fite family assembled to do honor to the occasion. Eleven of twelve children born Mrs. Peggy C. Fite were living, and either present or represented. Of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren, no less a number than four hun- dred and sixty-four were represented. What a picture the imagination conjures up! Think of this family assembled to make each other's acquaintance and compare experiences! Such a family is sufficient unto itself. It need not depend on neighbors for companionship ; it had the promise of em- pire within itself. Let some young mathematician of the family solve the problem of the number of the descendants there will be living in 1961, if the family continues to mul- tiply for another century as it has for the last. Peggy C. Fite attained the great age of one hundred and three and a half years.

Johannes Fite, the founder of the family in America, was a miller by trade. When quite young he emigrated to this country with a large party of his countrymen and women, one of whom, Catharina by name, had inspired the love of Johannes on the voyage. By design or otherwise, the chests of the emigrants containing the clothing and

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money were sent .on another ship than that on which ;: . passengers were brought. No tidings were received t., .: 1. ¿ Pants of their baggage, and all but two were put op ' auction on their arrival in New York and sold for the passage -money. Johannes and Catharina were bought 1; the same party, a New Jersey miller, who, after he had bought Johannes, was by him solicited to buy this .w ... heart. They were no sooner bound to the m ... : 1. out enough to pay their passage-money than . . ". bound to each other " to love, honor, obey," etc went to live in the will of their purchaser. P' 1 lived happy and contented for a long while, -at 1 . four children were born to them. It was then I. . .. n moved to Pennsylvania, built hima a fost to prot. family from Indians, and built a mill to support bi- ing family.

Subsequently a large representative of the fan to North Ca dion, and after a residence of year- 1. . Ternera. The grandfather of the proti .. the to Tennessee about 1500, settled at Bet Jener . " and att rwand- removed to Smith. ( art and eh. L. B. Fite's father, Jacob, live .. . . i.

", and his unther lived to be a.'s. Er . wiele, John Fite, died at ninety-sever. W: . Hunberson, a great-great-auut, lived to ... A, i'mstrating the sturdy character for integr. i to, his son mentions with pride the following . in 1864, while the civil war was yet in progress. .. ·her of his friends and neighbors was summoned : vill : to take the oath of allegiance to the Federal s . Saat and provide themselves with the requisite prote .. at the provost-marshal. After he had taken the oath mar-bal asked himu how wany sous he had and where they were. Being informed dit so far as Me. Tite knew f.' out of the five were South, and if not in the Confederate army were in sympathy with it. the masshal said, " Your love for your sons and atta yment ler hem, sir. make 3. .. · ith of no practical value. It must be stronger than y mus inve for the government. Is it not so, sir?" M. i.a. sophied that he recognized no right to be questioned ou the # tter: " If I reply as you would have me, my _1 .... would know I had sworn to a lie, and, worse than that, n.y ", "i would know I had perjured myself. I can tie ms os, my Ret, or my tongue by the oath I have tak-1 I cannot prevent my heart from going out towant: wy

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money were sent on another ship than that on which the passengers were brought. No tidings were received by the emigrants of their baggage, and all but two were put up at auction on their arrival in New York and sold for their passage-money. Johannes and Catharina were bought by the same party, a New Jersey miller, who, after he had bought Johannes, was by him solicited to buy his sweet- heart. They were no sooner bound to the miller to work out enough to pay their passage-money than they became bound to each other " to love, honor, obey," etc., etc., and went to live in the mill of their purchaser. Here they lived happy and contented for a long while,-at least, until four children were born to them. It was then Johannes removed to Pennsylvania, built him a fort to protect his family from Indians, and built a mill to support his grow- ing family.

Subsequently a large representative of the family moved to North Carolina, and after a residence of years then came to Tennessee. The grandfather of the present L. B. Fite came to Tennessee about 1800, settled at Buchanan's Sta- tion, and afterwards removed to Smith County and erected a mill. L. B. Fite's father, Jacob, lived to be eighty-five years old, and his mother lived to be eighty-three. His great-uncle, John Fite, died at ninety-seven years of age. Mrs. Lamberson, a great-great-aunt, lived to be ninety-six.

As illustrating the sturdy character for integrity of Jacob Fite, his son mentions with pride the following incident : In 1864, while the civil war was yet in progress, he with other of his friends and neighbors was summoned to Nash- ville to take the oath of allegiance to the Federal govern- ment and provide themselves with the requisite protection " of the provost-marshal. After he had taken the oath the marshal asked him how many sons he had and where they were. Being informed that so far as Mr. Fite knew four out of the five were South, and if not in the Confederate army were in sympathy with it, the marshal said, " Your love for your sons and attachment, for them, sir, make your oath of no practical value. It must be stronger than your love for the government. Is it not so, sir ?" Mr. Fite replied that he recognized no right to be questioned on the matter : " If I reply as you would have me, my neighbors would know I had sworn to a lie, and, worse than that, my God would know I had perjured myself. I can tie my hands, my feet, or my tongue by the oath I have taken, but I cannot prevent my heart from going out towards my boys."

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History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 114

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