History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 129

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 129

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Benjamin F. Waggoner was born May 15, 1828, in Davidson Co., Tenn. He remained with his father, attending the district school as opportunity offered during his school days, and at the age of twenty-five engaged in the lumber business on his own account, running a saw-mill on Long Creek, where he had purchased one thousand acres of fine timber-land, five hundred acres of which he still owns. Here he manufactured poplar and oak plank principally.

In 1859 he engaged in the manufacture of sheet- iron stoves, which business he followed until the breaking out of the civil war.

During the war, or for four years, he kept a dis- tillery on the Red River, in Robinson County, making on an average a barrel of spirits per day. After the war he returned to Davidson County and to farming, which business he still pursues.

March 31, 1869, he was married to Miss Tennie V. Cato, of Davidson County. Their children have been four in number, namely : Lina D., Elvie Leo, Mary E., and Charlie F.

Mr. Waggoner is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church (Alex. Green), which he joined while yet a young man, of which he continues to be a con- sistent member, and to the support of which he liberally contributes. Mrs. Waggoner is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Mount Hennon.

In politics, Mr. Waggoner has been a lifelong Democrat of the Jacksonian school.

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Photo. by Armstrong, Nashville.

CAPT. JAMES M. SMITH was born in Adair Co., Ky., April 16, 1819. His father, John Smith, emi- grated from Culpepper Co., Va., at an early day and settled in Kentucky, where he was engaged in farming for many years. He subsequently went to Illinois, where he died in 1853. He had a family of six children, of whom James was the oldest. He was reared on his father's farm until he was fifteen years of age, when he went into a store as clerk, and followed that occupation until the spring of 1840, when Messrs. William Garvin & Co., of Louisville, Ky., set him up in the mercantile business at Marion, Ky., which business he continued until March, 1847, when he came to Nashville, and engaged in steam- boating on the Cumberland and Ohio Rivers for four years.

In 1851 he established himself in the mercantile business, in which he has continued to the present time. While merchandising has been his principal

business, he has paid some attention to agriculture. Capt. Smith has a fine farm and home, about three miles south of the city, where he makes a specialty of raising fine horses. The business firm with which he is at present connected is composed of Messrs. Smith, Hill & Rose, and, in addition to mercantile business, is engaged in the manufacture of salt at Clifton, W. Va.

Mr. Smith has been twice married ; first, in 1839, to Miss Mary Jane Epley, of Logan Co., Ky. She died in 1863, leaving three children,-Marshall M., Ella Virginia, and Robert Stevens. He was again married, in 1864, to Miss Sallie Nutt, formerly of West Virginia. They are active and consistent men- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

In social relations, Capt. Smith is genial and com- panionable, in business matters prompt and reliable, at home cordial and hospitable. He is in the strictest sense a self-made, representative man.

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MARIA AND COLT.

KATKE AND TWILIGHT

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J. M. BOR DURANT.

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J. M. BONDURANT.

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SILAS LINTON.

MRS. SILAS LINTON.

(Photos, by Armstrong, Nashville.)

W. J. LINTON.

MRS. W. J. LINTON.

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483

BIOGRAPHIES.

Presidents of the United States, who at different times were on visits to the Hermitage.

Mr. Dodson was the father of thirteen children,-namely, Caleb, deceased ; Lucy, wife of Thomas Semple, now living in Texas, and who has reared a large family ; Jefferson, de- ceased, a successful merchant of Lebanon and father of five children ; Julia, who married Bird Fitzgerald, both now deceased ; Thomas, deceased ; Elizabeth, deceased, wife of J. W. Pennington, left one daughter; Capt. Timothy, a bachelor, who served with credit throughout the war in the Confederate service; Mary, wife of George Ridley, residing in West Tennessee, and the mother of two children ; Joseph W., who married Mattie Curd, of Wilson County, and who now resides at the mouth of Stone's River, in this county. This son was frequently intrusted with important business matters by President Jackson. Louisa B., who died just as she had reached womanhood ; Sarah Ann Calloway, de- ceased, wife of Wade Baker, and mother of two children ; William C., married to Elizabeth Ann, daughter of William Card, of Wilson County. He is a prosperous, well-to-do farmer and father of six sons. Sallie Ward, the only one of thirteen born who failed to attain majority before death.

It will be seen that Mr. Timothy Dodson was the head of a very large family, yet he failed not to provide abun- dantly for his household, both in immediate and future wants. He was a man of great will and energy, liberal, in- dustrious, and temperate. He was a staunch Democrat, and in later life a strict member of the Baptist Church. His wife was a lady fit in every respect to rear so large a family, and Mr. Dodson always attributed much of his success to the wise counsel and hearty co-operation of his bosom com- panion. She died in February, 1855, and six months later she was followed by her husband. The pair, with nearly all deceased members of the family, are interred in the family burying-ground upon the old homestead on Stone's River.

THEOPHILUS SCRUGGS.

Theophilus Scruggs is of Scotch ancestry, but his imme- diate predecessors were natives of Virginia. His father, Drury E. Scruggs, was an aged man with a family of seven children, four sons,and three daughters, when in 1808 he came from Virginia to Davidson Co., Tenn.

Theophilus Scruggs was his third son ; was born in Septem- ber, 1782, being aged about eighteen years when he came with his father's family to Tennessee. On the 22d day of November, 1818, he married Charlotte Perry, daughter of George Perry, who was by nativity a Scotchman, but who came to Davidson County at an early day in its history. After his marriage Mr. Scruggs settled at what is now the town of Goodlettsville, in Davidson County, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was an ardent lover of the chase, and was in every sense a representative of the hardy pioneer spirits who braved the dangers, endured the hardships, and submitted to the privations of border-life to pave the way for the advanced civilization of to-day, and who aided in transforming what was then a dense wilderness inhabited by wild beasts, and at one time by wilder men, into a beau-

tiful country that is now blooming like a garden. At the time of his early manhood, game, such as deer, bears, etc., abounded here, and his hours of leisure were spent in their pursuit. He was a great admirer of that noblest of all animals, the horse, and his early life was engaged in the rearing of thoroughbred horses.

Mr. Scruggs' children, eight in number, made their ad- vent in the following order : George P., born Nov. 2, 1821 ; Benjamin F., born Jan. 22, 1823; Eliza Ann, born Nov. 26, 1824; Narcissa, born Aug. 26, 1826; Allen P., born Feb. 28, 1829 ; Christopher C., born April 2, 1831 ; Alex- ander, born Oct. 2, 1834; Richard, born Feb. 28, 1837.

In politics Mr. Scruggs was an old-line Whig. In the war of 1812 he was a soldier under the heroic leadership of Jackson, having raised a company of volunteers on his own account, of which he was made captain. He was in nearly every engagement of the war, and acquitted himself with honor and distinction, and will be handed down in history as one of the heroes of the memorable battle of New Orleans ; was discharged in 1815, and returned imme- diately to the peaceful pursuits of pastoral life, and in the quiet avocation of agriculture and developing the interests of his county he ended his days. A noble life, nobly spent. He lived an unostentatious life and died on April 16, 1864, regretted by all who knew him.

His son, A. P. Scruggs, was reared on the farm with his father. At common school he received what education was attainable at that time. On the 3d of March, 1859, he married Susan E. Speer, daughter of Andrew Speer, who was a representative of one of the oldest families of the county, his mother having been in the old Buchanan Fort at the time of its siege. After his marriage Mr. Scruggs settled on the farm on which he now resides, and which he has transformed into a beautiful and tasty home. He in- serts this sketch in honor of his father's memory, and to perpetuate the history of one of the oldest families of the county.

SILAS LINTON.

Silas Linton, son of Hezekiah and Joanna Linton, and grandson of Hezekiah Linton, Sr., was born in North Carolina, Aug. 8, 1799. His father was a lieutenant in the war of the Revolution, served with distinction, and was honorably discharged. In consideration of his services he received from the United States government a grant of land, but from some cause his family never obtained posses- sion of it.

About 1806 he started with his family from North Car- olina to come to Davidson Co., Tenn., but on the way was stricken with an illness which proved fatal. His widow and family, however, came on, and settled in the Fourteenth Dis- trict, Davidson County. Here she married again, her second husband being Benjamin Pritchard. She was a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Silas Linton remained with his mother on the farm until he was grown. His first start in life was as hired laborer for Robin Hill; he worked two years, and received as compensation for his services cighty dollars. He then engaged as overseer on a

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484

HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.

farm for one Jones. On the 20th of January, 1820, he married Margaret Pritchard, and settled on the farm now owned by his son, William J., in southeast part of District Fourteen, Davidson County. They had three children.

Mr. Linton was a tidy, practical, and successful farmer. He owned about one thousand acres of land. Both him- self and wife were zealous members of the Christian Church, and for more than fifty years they trod the path of life happily, hand in hand, together. He died Aug. 1, 1873. Mrs. Linton was born in North Carolina in 1802. She died Oct. 9, 1878. They were honorable and hon- ored people. They lived respected and died regretted by all who knew them. This tribute to their memory is inserted by their son, William J.

WILLIAM JAMES LINTON.

William James Linton, only son of Silas and Margaret Linton, was born in Davidson Co., Tenn., Oct. 22, 1822, on the old homestead, on which he now resides. He re- ceived a common-school education, and by reading much has acquired a good practical business education. He re- sided with his parents on the farm until his marriage, Sept. 10, 1843, to Miss Jarutha Vaughn. They had five children : Johnson V., who married first Miss Rosanna Hughes, and after her demise Miss Elizabeth Hughes, and is now a farmer in the Fourteenth District; Margaret, who married Nathan Greer and resides in Williamson County ; Silas, who married Miss Kate Anderson and is now a farmer in the Fourteenth District; and William J., Jr., who married Miss Mary Givings and now lives on the old Linton homestead. All of them are good citizens and are in good circumstances in life.

Mrs. Linton died July 10, 1853. She was a member of the Christian Church ; was an estimable lady, a pious,

affectionate mother, and a loving wife, and, dying, left behind the rich fragrance of a good Christian character as a pre- cious legacy to her children.

On Dec. 21, 1854, Mr. Linton married his second wife, Miss Mary J. Moss, who lived but six months after her marriage, dying June 25, 1855.

Mr. Linton married his third wife, Mrs. E. A. McLe- more, formerly Miss Hughes, Dec. 24, 1856. She was the widow of Daniel J. McLemore, a lawyer who lived in Tyler, Smith Co., Texas. At the time of her marriage to Mr. Linton she had one son, Thomas J., who is now a clerk in Memphis, Tenn.

To Mr. and Mrs. Linton were born six children, three of whom-viz., Rose Lee, Sidney H., and Robert L .- are resid- ing with them. Of the remaining three, Lucy M. died in her eighteenth year, Willie R. died at the age of fifteen years, and Eustace A. at the age of two years.

Mrs. Linton is a daughter of Thomas and Luey M. Hughes; was born near Hillsboro', Williamson Co., Tenn., Jan. 9, 1832. Her father was a native of North Carolina, born in 1805, and settled on West Harpeth, in Williamson County, 1808. He married Lucy M. Bond, with whom be has lived fifty years. They have had twelve children, only three of whom are living,-Eustachia A., Sidney, who is now a farmer in his native county, and Elizabeth P., who married a son of William J. Linton.

Mr. Linton has a fine valley farm of seven hundred acres. He has a beautiful home, with magnificent scenery surrounding it; his farm is well watered and in a high state of cultivation. Both himself and wife are worthy members of the Christian Church. He is liberal in his donations to the church, and the poor go not empty-handed away. He was formerly a Whig, but of late takes no in- terest in politics further than to cast his vote.

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MC Hutton

MRS W. C. HUTTON .

WM. CARTER HUTTON

was born Jan. 20, 1842, in that part of the Sixteenth District of Davidson County which is now Pegram's Station, Cheatham Co.

John Hutton, his paternal grandfather, was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, and emigrated to America soon after the Revo- lution, when he was but sixteen years of age.

He lived in New York and Pennsylvania until manhood, was married in Philadelphia to his first wife, and soon after removed to North Carolina, and resided there fifteen or more years, thence removing to Rutherford Co., Tenn., in 1807. Before his death he moved to Williamson County. He was the father of twenty children. He was an independent thinker and Democrat in politics.

Wm. Drennan, son of John Hutton, was born in Mecklen- burg Co., N. C., Nov. 17, 1802, and came when a young lad with his father to Tennessee. When of age he moved to the Six- teenth District, Davidson County, and engaged in farming and tanning. He married for his first wife Miss Martha Dillahunty, daughter of an old settler in Davidson County. He continued in business (adding a shoe- and saddler-shop) until his death, Aug. 4, 1858.

His second marriage was solemnized in 1833. This wife, Miss Virginia Ferebee, was born near Norfolk, Va., and was the eldest of six children of Thomas and Sally Ferebee. She was brought to Tennessee in 1819, when only one year of age. Their children, four in number, are : Sally E. (who married, first Col. Jas. E. Newsom, second Rev. W. D. Cherry) ; John H .; Thomas F. (farmers in the Fourteenth District, Davidson County); and William C.

William Carter was educated first, at common schools, then at Charlotte, Tenn., afterwards at White Creek Spring, under the tuition of that veteran and able teacher, Edwin R. Crocker.

In February, 1859, Mr. Hutton went to Franklin, Tenn., and commenced the study of medicine with D. B. Cliffe, M.D .; in October of same year attended Shelby Medical College; also attended summer course of 1860, fall course of 1860- 61, graduating as M.D., Feb. 21, 1861. After graduation he enlisted in Co. A, Rock City Guards, of Nashville, and was mustered into the Confederate army. He served under Gen. Lee in Northwest Virginia, and was transferred to "Stonewall" Jackson's corps. After twelve months' services he returned to Nashville, and began practicing his profession at Pegram's Station. In addition to farming and the practicing of his pro- fession, he engaged in merchandising from 1866 to 1870. In 1875 he moved to " Mount Airy," the pleasant home where he now resides, on Harpeth River.

He combines the practice of medicine with agriculture, his large and lucrative practice occupying most of his time.

He married, July 8, 1862, Miss Julia A. Pegram, daughter of Roger Pegram, Esq. ; her parents were from Virginia,-on the paternal side from Dinwiddie County ; her mother, Caroline Williams, from Halifax County. Mrs. Hutton was born in Davidson County, about a mile from the birthplace of her husband. She was educated at the Tennessee Female College, Franklin, Tenn. They have seven living children,-Cora V. C., Roger P., Willie D., Sallie, Annie L., Vernon, and Irving.

Politically Dr. Hutton is a Democrat, though strictly a free- thinker. He has never sought office, preferring never to com- premise his independence of thought or action. In matters of public interest he is liberal, a friend to education and the ad- vancement of mankind, and, though not a member of any Christian organization, entertains high moral principles and fixed convictions.

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Photos. by Armstrong, Nashville.

MRS. W. H. LOVELL.

W. H. LOVELL.

WILLIAM H. LOVELL.

It is not to the soldiery, with its pomp, parade, glitter, and clash of arms, not to the politicians, with their noisy oratory and fiery declamations and invectives, that American liberty will owe its preservation and perpetuity. These are but the foam and froth on the surface of a deep and powerful river. The current bearing on in strength and to safety the free institutions of our land is best typified by such a person as the one of whom we now write. The class of which he is a type will so long as right triumphs control its destiny. He is em- phatically one of the people and a representative man in all respects. Without parade, without noise, quietly and steadily, conservatively and consistently, he has ever aimed to know what was transpiring around him, and, knowing, to use his best judgment in choosing a course adapted to produce " the greatest good to the greatest number."

William Harrison Lovell was born on Sam's Creek, in Davidson Co., Tenn., May 14, 1810. (This territory is now a part of Cheatham County.) His father, John Munroe Lovell, was born, Sept. 1, 1777, in North Carolina, and moved to Davidson County about the commencement of the present century, and settled, after marrying Susanna Pack in 1808, on Sam's Creek. He resided there about two years, then moved to Pond Creek, and lived there until his death, which occurred in 1856. He was a justice of the peace, a represen- tative farmer, a member of the Methodist Church, and a good man.

William H. Lovell resided with his parents until 1833, when, on April 4, he married Miss L. Ruhama House, daughter of John C. House, Esq., who came to Davidson County in 1814 from near Raleigh, N. C. She was born Sept. 21, 1813. About two years after their marriage Mr. Lovell made a purchase of a portion of his present homestead, and they moved to the

place on the waters of the Harpeth River where, after forty- five years of useful and contented life, they now reside.

To the small farm of ninety-three acres with which he commenced his home life, Mr. Lovell has from time to time added in various ways, until his real estate at this writing amounts to about two thousand one hundred acres.

Mr. Lovell has always been an admirer and an ardent sup- porter of the political doctrines enunciated by Jefferson, Jack- son, and other champions of the Democratic party, and cast his first vote for Andrew Jackson in his first candidacy for President. He was elected justice of the peace, and held that office for several years, and has, from time to time through his whole life, held various other offices and positions of honor and trust, the unsolicited gift of his neighbors.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Lovell have for over thirty years been consistent and active members of the Methodist Church, and they have always liberally aided, financially and otherwise, not alone their own particular sect, but the cause of Christian- ity and morality wherever it could be done by them. Their children are Susan P., who married Rev. John A. Cox, of the Methodist Church (he died in 1874, leaving several chil- dren) ; Thomas R. (deceased) ; William W. (deceased) ; Caroline T .; Charles B., who served throughout the late civil war in the Confederate service; John H. ; Carroll M., who graduated in medicine at Vanderbilt University, and is now a rising physician in this county ; and Nancy E.

Caroline married J. A. J. Shelton, who was in the Con- federate service in the late war, and was killed at the battle of Atlanta, Ga., in 1863. Mrs. Shelton died in 1862, leaving two children,-Emma and Ida,-who were taken home by Mr. and Mrs. Lovell and cared for and reared as their own children.

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JOHN BUTTERWORTH.

MRS. JOHN BUTTERWORTH.

JOHN BUTTERWORTH.

An early settler! How much of hardy endu- rance, of wearing toil, of deprivation, is told in those words! and the most expressive description of John Butterworth and his wife is, that they were early settlers.

The ancestors of John Butterworth came from England in the colonial period to Virginia, where Benjamin Butterworth, his father, resided at the time of his birth, which occurred in Campbell County, March 25, 1794. His boyhood and early youth were spent with his mother on the farm left by his father, who was drowned. At the call for soldiers in the war of 1812 young Butterworth showed his patriotism by being one of the first to enlist. He served faithfully and well, receiving an honorable discharge from service. Immediately thereafter he came to Sumner Co., Tenn., where he married Lucy Talley. The young couple commenced housekeep- ing on a farm on the waters of Drake's Creek.

They resided here only a very few years, Mr. Butterworth selling his place and removing to David- son County when about twenty-five years old. His first settlement in this county proved to be the home of his old age, and during the many years in which

this worthy couple lived and toiled together they experienced many vicissitudes. Here were born to them seven children,-Caroline (deceased), Parmelia, Reuben, Sally, William, James, and Zachariah (de- ceased). Sally, William, and James now (1880) re- side on the old homestead.

Mr. Butterworth never had any political aspira- tions, preferring the quiet, unostentatious life of a farmer, but voted the Whig ticket early in life, after- wards the Democratic. He enjoyed the sport of hunting, and was a crack marksman, and his labor was blessed with competency. He died April 20, 1877, at the advanced age of eighty-three years, never being sick a day till his last illness.

Lucy Talley, his wife, was born in Cumberland Co., Va., June 17, 1792, and moved with her parents to Sumner Co., Tenn., at the age of six years. She resided in Sumner County till her marriage. She was for many years a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and acted well her part in the sphere of life which Providence assigned to her. A kind, indulgent mother, her memory is cherished by a group of loving descendants. She died Jan. 23, 1873.

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JOHN C. BOWERS.

MRS. JOHN C. BOWERS.

JOHN C. BOWERS.

William Pitt Bowers, father of John C., was of English parentage, and born in New Jersey in 1767. In early manhood he removed to North Carolina, where he married Sally Gomer in the latter part of the last century. Shortly after his marriage he emi- grated to Davidson Co., Tenn., where he became pos- sessed of about five hundred acres of land. He was bluff and hearty, a worthy type of frontiersmen, and a representative farmer of that period. He died in April, 1823.

Lemuel, the oldest of their six children, was born in North Carolina previous to their removal to David- son County. John and Stephen, both residing in the Twentieth Civil District, are the only ones now living. John C. Bowers was born Aug. 3, 1801. His boyhood and youth were spent among the ever- green-capped hills and beautiful vales where now, in the sunset of life, he sits musing over the varied and eventful scenes which memory recalls as the pano- rama of those many years passes in retrospect before his vision. He has lived to see the almost bound- less forests through which in his youth and early manhood he used to chase the bounding stag trans- formed into broad and waving fields of grain, inter- spersed with beautiful farm-houses, and dotted here and there with thriving villages.

The lofty hills that then echoed the panther's wild scream are now resonant with the neigh of the iron horse. The very lightning that used to play fantas- tic freaks about the cloud-capped summits of his

native hills, now chained and tamed by the hand of man, has become his passive servitor and swift- winged messenger. During the fourscore years of his life nature wild and unadorned has yielded to the touch and donned the garb of civilization ; great, indeed, have been the changes he has lived to wit- ness.

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History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 129

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