History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 115

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 115

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The provost-marshal snatched from Mr. Fite the certificate he had given him, and with profane abuse threatened him with imprisonment. A. V. S. Lindsey, a leading Union man, interested himself for this old and honest citizen, and brought Mr. Fite to an audience with the general com- manding, who listened respectfully to Mr. Fite as he recited his account of the interview he had had with the marshal. Impressed with profound respect for Mr. Fite's regard to an oath, he ordered a pass to issue at once, saying, " I have no doubt, old gentleman, you will keep your word more strictly than many who are now crowding here to make oath to their loyalty."

Leonard B. Fite came to Nashville in the year 1830, and went into the store and employment of Robert I.

Moore, a general merchant. He left Mr. Moore and com- menced for himself in a retail dry-goods business in 1834. Ile entered the wholesale trade exclusively in 1853, under the style of L. B. Fite & Co. This business he sold out in 1859. He was for many years a director in the " Bank of Tennessee," and afterwards filled the same office in the Union Bank. He never would accept political office; his tastes inclined him otherwise. He watched with close at- tention the details of his large business, and says he never was absent from it by reason of illness for five days in forty years.

Mr. Fite in 1840 married Miss Amanda Reynolds, by whom he had one son,-viz., James W. Fite. His second marriage occurred in 1853, to Miss Virginia G. L. Randall. Of this marriage was born L. B. Fite, Jr. By a third marriage he has two young daughters. In this later case he married Miss Martha Mann, nee Campbell.

For the last eight years of his life he has been connected with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

This sketch is furnished not on any desire of Mr. Fite to make himself prominent in the history of his county, but at the earnest solicitation of children and friends who hold him in very high esteem for his many good qualities as a man, as a father, head of a family, as a friend, mer- chant, and citizen. He is held in high estcem by a very large circle of friends, who have been attracted by his straightforward business methods, by his incorruptible hon- esty and faithful adherence to his friends. He is a self- made man, but has not found it necessary in order to rise himself that he pull down others; on the contrary, it would be difficult to find an acquaintance who is not proud to name himself as a friend. This is the testimony of others, and it is here recorded in the hope that it may contribute to Mr. Fite's happiness in the pleasant home to which he has retired, in Sumner County, about twelve miles north of Nashville, Tenn.

GEN. JOHN F. WHELESS.

John F. Wheless was born in Montgomery Co., Tenn., Feb. 3, 1839, and before six years of age lost both father and mother. Soon afterwards he was placed by his brother, Wesley Wheless, at school, near Nashville. By the time he was fourteen the education acquired was ample to fit him for business, and he entered the banking-house of Hobson & Wheless, of which his brother, Wesley, was the active manager. His advancement was rapid, having been promoted to the responsible position of paying teller in less than three years.

In the financial panic of 1857, when all the banks throughout the country suspended, the one with which he was connected went into liquidation ; thereupon the directors of the Bank of Tennessee offered him a position, which he accepted, but came near declining rather than ask any one to become his security on the bond required. Stepping into the president's room to inform him of his intention, he most opportunely met there a wealthy and influential friend, who, in congratulating him on his election, kindly proffered to sign the bond, and thus he was relieved of the necessity

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of asking that favor. He remained in the Bank of Ten- nessee three years or more, during which time his generous friend became its honored president. In 1860 he resigned to engage in the brokerage and banking business on his own account, which he abandoned in April, 1861, and entered the military service of the State as junior lieutenant of Co. C, Rock City Guards. In April, 1862, he was elected captain of the company by a unanimous vote, although the most rigid disciplinarian in the regiment.

Oct. 8, 1862, he was seriously wounded by a minie-ball through the body at the battle of Perryville; was captured and paroled. His exchange was effected the following January, and Lieut .- Gen. Polk offered him a staff appoint- ment of assistant inspector general of his corps, which was accepted, and soon afterwards Maj .- Gen. A. P. Stewart tendered him the position of inspector-general with rank of major, which was declined at the solicitation of Gen. Polk, who desired to retain his services, and as a fitting recogni- tion of them recommended his promotion.

After the battle of Chickamauga, Gen. Polk was trans- ferred to the Mississippi Department, and Gen. Bragg, by special order, assigned Capt. Wheless to duty in the inspec- tor-general's department of his own staff, but before reporting for duty a communication was received at army headquar- ters from the post surgeon at Griffin, Ga., earnestly request- ing that an officer of experience and firmness be sent there to prevent serious complications resulting from the disor- ganized condition of affairs existing at that point. Capt. Wheless was assigned to that duty, and speedily accom- plished all that was desired. His efficiency in discharge of military duties was well attested by the fact that he was not personally known to either Gens. Polk, Stewart, or Bragg when they offered the important and responsible staff appointments.

From the command of the post at Griffin he was trans- ferred to the paymaster's department of the navy, where business talent was greatly needed. . After several months' service in North Carolina waters he was ordered to the " James River squadron." Soon after reporting there for duty President Davis offered him, through Gen. Bragg, then in command at Richmond, a commission as lieutenant- colonel in the adjutant and inspector-general's department, but it was declined under the belief that the end of the war was too near to justify a change.

In the evacuation of Richmond the naval command to which he was attached had charge of the treasury depart- ment, and guarded it to Augusta, Ga., and then back to Abbeville, S. C., where it was turned over to the command accompanying President Davis, which halted a day or so at Washington, Ga., and Paymaster Wheless was sent there to try and secure funds with which to pay off the naval de- tachment ; his mission was successful, and while there he was present at the last meeting of the notables of the Confederate government, among whom were President Davis, Gen. Breckenridge, Secretary of War, Judge Reagan, Acting Secretary of the Treasury, Judge Camp, Treasurer, Gen. Bragg, and others of lesser note. He returned to his command at Abbeville, paid out the money he had obtained, and received from the commanding officer an honorable dis- charge from further service to the Confederacy, after which

he returned home, and, like .many others, had but little with which to begin the world. On his way stopping in Augusta, a merchant there requested him to look after some old ante-bellum business, which was faithfully and success- fully prosecuted, and resulted in the merchant intrusting to him large purchases of grain, which lasted for several months. In the fall or winter large capitalists in Cincinnati offered him ample means for starting a bank in Nashville, but just as the arrangements were completed the Legisla- ture repealed the charter. About this time the Fourth National Bank was organized, and a number of the most influential directors tendered him their influence in electing him cashier, but, learning that a personal friend eminently fitted for the position might be induced to accept it, he de- clined, and urged the election of his friend. Subsequently he was offered the cashiership of the Second National Bank, but, having only a few months previously established the commission-house of McAlister & Wheless, he declined the offer, and carried on the commission business with decided success until September, 1878, when he retired for a while from that branch of business, but entered it again in May, 1879, when he established the firm of Wheless, Williams & Co., which still has a prosperous existence.

During the past fifteen years he has been prominent in business circles, for most of the time a director of the Nash- ville and Decatur Railroad, Equitable Insurance Company, and Nashville Warehouse Company; for several terms president of the Cotton Exchange, and by that body, or through appointments of the Governor, has represented com- mercial interests in nearly all the commercial conventions held in various parts of the country, and at the meeting of the National Cotton Exchange held at White Sulphur Springs, Va., in 1875, although representing the smallest constituent exchange in that body, he was chosen a member of the executive council, and in the proceedings of the eon- vention President Phelps, in announcing the fact, took oe- casion to say, " This selection gives me great pleasure, as it certainly will all who were members of the convention that met in Augusta, for you know and appreciate the impor- tant service he rendered in that convention,-a convention which accomplished more in less time than any with which I have ever been identified; and its success was due more to him than any other member, and he has performed a work for this body that cannot be too highly commended. All of you know the great difficulties attending the adop- tion of a constitution and by-laws in your exchange; you therefore fully appreciate the high value which should be accorded the work he has accomplished in preparing for this body a constitution, by-laws, and rules so perfect and comprehensive as to have commanded your approval with- out a solitary change of importance. Such a consummation is without a precedent, and deserves at your hands the highest compliment you can bestow ; and while you had many distinguished gentlemen to choose from, you could not possibly have made a better selection, and it gives me great pleasure to announce that Mr. John F. Wheless, of the Nashville Cotton Exchange, has been elected a member of the executive council of the National Cotton Exchange of America.'

In 1876, believing that under the influence of wrong

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teaching the people were drifting towards repudiation, he urged upon prominent politicians the necessity for taking a bold and decided stand in favor of sustaining the credit of the State, and prepared and published a plan for meeting the interest on the debt, which was received with favor, and resulted in his being invited to New York City to confer with the bondholders as to the best course to be pursued ; and having become convinced that a " compromise" had become necessary, and wishing to avoid the State taking the initiative in that direction, he urged the bondholders the propriety of their asking for a committee of confer- ence, and they, acting on this suggestion, sent him a com- munication signed by representatives of five to six millions of dollars of bonds for Governor Porter to request the Legislature to appoint a committee to confer with them in regard to an adjustment of the matter.

In July, 1877, the City Council and Merchants' Ex- change invited President Hayes and Cabinet to visit Nash- ville, and Capt. Wheless was requested to visit Washington City and deliver the invitations to the gentlemen in person, which he did, and succeeded in securing their acceptance, and September 19th President Hayes, with several mem- bers of his cabinet, accompanied by Governor Wade Hamp- ton, arrived in Nashville. Capt. Whelcss, as chairman of the committee of arrangements, ably assisted by a number of prominent gentlemen, made the occasion a grand success, it being the largest gathering of people ever seen in the city, and everything passed off pleasantly and to the entire satisfaction of the guests.

During the terrible yellow fever epidemic in Memphis in 1879 the necessity for furnishing provisions to the suffer- ing people there and in camps became so urgent that Gov- ernor Marks sent for Capt. Wheless and urged him to undertake the work of organizing a bureau for their relief, and in order to invest him with all the authority possible commissioned him brigadier-general and commissary-general of the State. Gen. Wheless began immediate and earnest preparations for the relief of the fever-stricken city, and in a few days had an agent at every depot in the State duly authorized to collect and forward supplies.

In the Centennial celebration of the city of Nashville he was assigned to the chairmanship of the committee on mili- tary, with authority to appoint its members and to command the military during the continuance of the celebration, and specially charged with the management of the martial cere- monies, including the unveiling of the Jackson statue.

At an early age he made a profession of religion during a revival at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in the fall of 1851, and by the advice of the minister conducting it joined the Methodist Church, as most of his associations were with that denomination.

Feb. 27, 1866, he was united in marriage with Fanny Aiken McAlister, third daughter of William K. McAlister, of Nashville.

In respect to his wishes the narration of the events of his life is made without comment or embellishment, but it seems appropriate that mention should not be omitted of the fact that none of the many appointments to positions of trust and responsibility were made at his solicitation.

JABEZ P. DAKE, A.M., M.D.

Dr. Dake is descended, on his father's side, from an English family which settled in New England two hundred years ago, and, on his mother's side, from the Roger Wil- liams Rhode Island Quaker- Baptist stock. His grand- father was at the battle of Benuington, and his father was in service in the war of 1812.

Born at Johnstown, near Saratoga, N. Y., April 22, 1827, he was educated at Madison University, Hamilton, N. Y., and at Union College, Schenectady, under the famous Dr. Eliphalet Nott. From the latter institution he gradu- ated with honor in 1849.

His father being a physician, also two of his elder brothers, after contemplating briefly the study of law or theology, he entered finally and earnestly upon the family calling. He took a full course in the Geneva Medical Col- lege, under Webster, Coventry, Hadley, and other able teachers. Becoming a private pupil, at Pittsburgh, of Dr. Gustavus Reichhelm, an educated Prussian, the first prac- titioner of homoeopathy to pass west of the Alleghany Mountains, he devoted himself especially to the study of the new school of medicine.

Taking another full course at the Homoeopathic Medical College in Philadelphia, he received its diploma in the spring of 1851.

Locating at Pittsburgh, he became the associate of Dr. Reichhelm, and, finally, his successor in 1853.

Educated, earnest, and of good address, he was not long in winning the confidence of the community and in gaining a clientèle second to none in the city.

His practical success and readiness with the pen led to his early appointment as an associate editor of the Philu- delphia Journal of Homoeopathy ; also to his being called to Philadelphia as an orator on the occasion of the centen- nial celebration of Hahnemann's birthday, April 10, 1855. His oration on the "Philosophy of Homoeopathy" won upon the profession, and, with other things, led to his ap- pointment, at the early age of twenty-eight, to the chair of materia medica and therapeutics at his Alma Mater.

Leaving his practice at Pittsburgh with his partner, Dr. J. C. Burgher, in the fall, he spent the winters lecturing in Philadelphia, returning to his home work in the spring. The double duties proving too much for his strength, he resigned his chair and the congenial labors of the college, and returned finally to his practice in the spring of 1857.

Ilis career in Pittsburgh was marked by an earnest ad- vocacy, in public as well as private, with pen and tongue, of what he deemed to be medical truth. Among his pole- mic encounters was one with Dr. James King, late surgeon- general of Pennsylvania, in a newspaper discussion, with whom he won much credit as a medical scholar and writer, as well as an able disputant.

In 1857 he was elected president of the national society of homoeopathic physicians, the American Institute, at its annual meeting in Chicago, and the next year delivered the annual address before the same body in the city of Brooklyn.

Broken down by overwork, he was obliged to withdraw for a time to his farm at Salem, Ohio, where he found hor-

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ticulture, more especially grape-culture, at once a source of pleasure and of renewed health. He was president of a large association of grape-growers, and did much to pro- mote the culture of fine fruits in Ohio and along the shores of Lake Erie.

His own renewed health, and the failing health of his wife, whose family had all been swept away by pulmonary disease, led him to abandon his fine fruit-farm and vine- yards, and to seek a milder climate and a new field of pro- fessional work in the South.

Mrs. Dake (Miss Elizabeth Church, to whom he was married on the 3d of April, 1851) was the daughter of Dr. William Church, an eminent physician and surgeon of Pittsburgh. A woman gifted as a writer, and especially bright and faithful in her domestic relations, the mother of five sons, as good and true as ever mother doted on, it was not strange that her safety should influence the goings of the family ark.

Selecting Tennessee (for which State he had a lingering fondness since playing schoolmaster, at the age of eighteen, in her Western District, during a rest from college), the doctor arrived in Nashville with his family June, 1869.

Although personally known to only one or two residents of the city, it was not long till the reputation made in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia followed him here. The char- acteristics which had made him successful at Pittsburgh were soon noticed here,-an earnest devotion to the best interests of the sick.

Overworked again, and prostrated by a partial paralysis, he was obliged in 1875 to leave his practice to his eldest son, Dr. William C. Dake, and to spend several months in European travel.

Upon his restoration to health and return home he was elected to the chair of practice and principles of medicine in the old college at Philadelphia. Going there in the fall of 1876, he gave a course of lectures; but, finding the health of his wife would not admit of her accompanying him to Philadelphia in the winter-time, he resigned the work in which he had taken great pleasure, and again de- voted himself entirely to practice. His patients are widely distributed, being by no means confined to Tennessee.

Besides his practical work, Dr. Dake has been an almost constant writer upon medicine, sanitary science, and other subjects of public interest.

His influence has been felt in the halls of municipal and State legislation in opposition to partisan and illiberal meas- ures, and especially in favor of the increased efficacy of public hygiene. His effort last year resulted in the placing of two most useful laymen on the State Board of Health.

Besides articles in society transactions, journals, and newspapers, he has written an excellent treatise on domes- tic medical practice, and another entitled the "Science of Therapeutics in Outline," setting forth a complete system of therapeutic principles, in which all known remedial measures are assigned appropriate places. The subject upon which he has written and spoken most is the regen- eration of the Materia Medica upon a basis of thorough and exact experimentation, in which all improved means of diagnosis are applied to drug effects as to the manifestations of disease in the sick.

In 1878 he was a member of the special commission ap- pointed by the American Institute of Homoeopathy, and provided for financially by Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson, for the investigation of the yellow fever epidemic.

His experience in the treatment of Asiatic cholera has been large and successful, beginning at Pittsburgh in 1849. and extending through the epidemics of 1850, 1854, 1866. and 1873. He made an elaborate statistical report to the commission appointed to investigate the epidemic of 1873.

Clear in his views, honest and deep in his convictions, uncompromising in his principles, yet liberal and courteous and kind towards all, Dr. Dake furnishes an example of an educated man who is not overbearing, a reformer who ie not a fanatic, and a Christian who is not a bigot. He often says the last article in every creed to which he subscribes must read thus : " All the foregoing articles are open to alterations and amendments in accordance with increasing light and knowledge."

His confidence in the ultimate triumph of truth among the doctrines, and of the "survival of the fittest" among institutions and men, has made him liberal and patient in the varied conflicts of life.

. His appreciation of his adopted State is very high. He has written and talked much of her immense natural re- sources. His faith in the future of Nashville is strong : he predicts a great city in the central basin of Tennessee.

HENRY SHEFFIELD, M.D.

Henry Sheffield, M.D., of Nashville, Tenn., was born in Stonington, Conn., Jan. 22, 1828. He is of English descent. His grandfather and father were shipbuilders on Long Ist- and Sound. It was the wish of his father that he should suc- ceed to his business, so at the age of eighteen he commenced to study the theory and practice of shipbuilding. While thus employed his health became so much impaired that he was compelled to abandon the business and seek a more suitable and less laborious employment. In 1848 he went to Auburn, N. Y., to consult Dr. Horatio Robinson, the oldest homoeopathic physician in Central New York, a life- long and faithful friend of his father. Under his skillful treatment he soon recovered his health, and then entered upon the study of medicine with Dr. Robinson. It was his privilege to attend the first course of lectures delivered at the Homoeopathic College in Cleveland, Ohio. He at- tended a second course at the same institution, and received the degree of M.D. in February, 1852. After practicing at Batavia, N. Y., he went to Cleveland to attend a third course of lectures. Here under the tuition of Professor Pulte he gave special study to the diseases of women and children. In 1854 he went to Sacramento, Cal., but found little room there for his profession, therefore returned and settled in Nashville, March, 1855. At that time there were but three or four families who used homoeopathic remedies. He had to endure the unjust ridicule and bitter opposi- tion of the medical fraternity and their friends. By his numerous cures he has made many homoeopaths. By his firm and upright course he has made many strong friends

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We take pleasure in closing this sketch of Dr. Sheffield by an article from the pen of William Henry Smith, an honored citizen of Nashville :

" When Dr. Sheffield located at Nashville the prospect was not very encouraging; the field was rather barren in appearance. There were but a few families who had become converts to the new practice, and they were firm and stead- fast in the faith, but it seemed impossible to extend the circle. The opponents of homoeopathy had stoutly resisted its introduction, and were exceedingly active and industrious in their efforts to prejudice the popular mind. They had brought to bear against it all the resources of argument, wit, satire, ridicule, and misrepresentation, and many who were disposed to embrace it were thus deterred from doing 80. The allopathic practitioners, father-confessors of the great bulk of invalids, never permitted an opportunity to pass without giving homoeopathy and its adherents a stab. In some instances they carried their opposition to the extent of social ostracism. The prejudice engendered against howce- opathy was great, but not greater than the ignorance on the subject prevalent. Men formed their opinions not after fair and truth-seeking investigation, but upon the dicta of those who were more or less interested in preventing inquiry and keeping the people in ignorance. In a word, Nashville was as completely under the domination of allopathy as Mexico under the priesthood. It was no pleasant or easy task, therefore, that Dr. Sheffield had before him. He de- termined, however, to meet and surmount, if possible, all the obstacles which stood as a barrier to success. He had full faith in his cause, and never wavered in his conviction that a favorable impression could be made, the Chinese wall of prejudice broken, and homoeopathy firmly planted and extended. He had patience, fortitude, courage, confi- dence. All these virtues were taxed in his experience, but not in vain. His success as a practitioner of rare judgment and consummate skill, his close attention to his patients, and his sterling worth as a gentleman of the strictest integrity soon resulted in a gradual extension of his practice upon sure and solid foundations. In a few years he had so won the esteem and confidence of the citizens of Nashville that all doubts of success were removed. A little later his prac- tice became lucrative, and is still growing. His high char- acter, perseverance, foresight, and skill overcame obstacles which others found insurmountable ; and now thousands are treated according to the homoeopathic system where the practice was limited to a few. The career of Dr. Sheffield has been eminently successful. He has attained the highest rank as a physician. No professional man in the city has warmer and more devoted friends, or possesses in a greater degree the respect and esteem of all classes of citizens. This is due to his substantial merits, and not to any pandering to popu- lar tastes, partialities, or prejudices. He is firm and inflexible in his purposes, unswervingly faithful to his friends, and incorruptible.

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History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 115

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