History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 26

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 26

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

" The leading members of the bar were then in the habit of attending the sessions of the Supreme Court at all the places for holding it, so that most of them were brought into immediate contact. Haywood, Grundy, Jackson, Whiteside, Robert Whyte, Hugh L. . White, George W. Campbell, and others, were then the leading members of the Tennessee bar. The questions growing out of land- titles afforded a fruitful source of litigation, and in all these suits Judge Haywood was almost invariably retained.

" When Judge Haywood came to Tennessee the pro- fession was much divided in reference to the construction of the act of 1797 explaining the Statute of Limitations of 1715. The question involved in this statute had been decided in North Carolina, in the case of Crutcher vs. Parnell, 1 Murphey's R. 22. In that case the argument of Judge Haywood had the effect to produce the decision that seven years' possession, with a color of title, would bar an action of ejectment, and that it was not necessary to show a regular chain of title. The act of 1797 provided that ' the act of 1715 should apply in all cases where any person or persons shall have had seven years' peaceable possession of any land by virtue of a grant, or deed of conveyance founded on a grant, and no legal claim by suit,' etc. The cases of Sawyer's lessee vs. Shannon, 1 Tenn. R. 465; Lil- lard ts. Elliot, Patten vs. Eaton, 1 Wheaton R. 476, and Hampton's lessee vs. McGinnis, 1 Tenn. R. 286, were decided about the time Judge Haywood made his appear- ance at the bar of Tennessee, in which the doctrine of the connection of title scemed to be settled. The case of Weatherhead and Douglass vs. Bledsoe's heirs, reported in 2

Tenn. 352, was the first leading case on the construction of this statute in which Judge Haywood took a part as counsel. A distinguished and able lawyer who was then at the bar thus describes the position of Judge Haywood in reference to this case :

"' No case could have been more thoroughly investigated and ably argued at the bar than that of Weatherhead and Douglass vs. Bledsoe's heirs. By the time at which it came up for final adjudication many cases involving the same question were in progress in the Circuit Courts; the sub- ject had been very much discussed, both at the bar and elsewhere; public attention was strongly directed to it, and the faculties of the profession had become quickened and invigorated, all their zeal and energy aroused, and all their re- sources stimulated into action, by the general interest which now began to be felt in the issue. All seemed to anticipate that a decisive battle was to be fought, and, however it might terminate, that the result would be most disastrous to some, most fortunate to others, and of very doubtful influence to the community at large. Jenkin Whiteside appeared as the great champion for Bledsoe's heirs and connection of title; John Haywood for Weatherhead and . Douglass and the doctrine of " color of title." A number of other pro- fessional gentlemen of less celebrity, but of various degrees of talent and acquirement, were arranged on both sides of this question. The leading counsel referred to were known each to advocate his own private opinion; and they all brought to the discussion that thorough knowledge of the subject which, when united with great abilities, and with the expectations which hung upon the cause, was sure to produce an intellectual display pre-eminently interesting and captivating. Such was truly the character of the dis- tinguished forensic contest which took place on that mem- orable occasion. The event of it has been told; and that which to all human appearance now seemed the consumma- tion of. the thing proved only a prelude to one of the most agitating and exacerbated controversies, perhaps, that ever grew out of a question which was purely judicial.'

" But notwithstanding Judge Haywood's great talent, he lost this case, by the opinion of all the judges, except Judge Overton, dissenting. Soon after this opinion Judge Overton resigned and Cooke died, and their places were supplied by Robert Whyte and John Haywood, in the year 1816. When Mr. Haywood became a judge of the Su- preme Court, although he stood alone on the subject of his doctrine of 'color of title,' he never yielded it. From that time until 1825 he persevered in his opposition to the con- struction of the Statute of Limitation which made a connec- tion of title necessary. From being alone in his view of this law, Judge Haywood found himself at last sustained by all the members of the court of five judges, with the exception of Judge Whyte, who was not to be moved from his opinion by popular feeling or the sophistry of legal learning.

" We have seen Judge Haywood establishing the doc- trine of ' color of title' in his native State, and unsettling, according to Judge Murphey, the current of decisions for more than a century, while we find him arrayed against and apparently overwhelmed by the force of a powerful opposi- tion, struggling for years against it, and finally establishing

Digitized by Google

105

BENCH AND BAR.

the same doctrine in his adopted State. Much was due, no doubt, to the popular feeling which grew up in the country in favor of his construction of the law, which tended directly to establish the doubtful claims of many resident citizens of Tennessee against the superior claims of non- residents."

The same gentleman quoted above says, " Judge Hay- wood was a fine genius and a most powerful and unrivaled advocate. In tact and eloquence-such eloquence as reaches the heart and convinces the judgment-he had no equal in Tennessee. He was often employed with and against the late Felix Grundy in the most critical criminal cases, and it would not be saying too much, perhaps, to say that as an orator he was equal, if not superior to that dis- tinguished advocate. Both had been on the supreme bench of their respective States, and both came to Tennessee pre- ceded by the most brilliant reputation. Both were men of great learning and attainments, but in all the learning which pertained to his profession Judge Haywood stood far in advance of his great rival. He possessed inexhaust- ible stores of imagination, was quick and ready in argument, and prompt in reply. But withal his judgment was too much under the dominion of imaginative faculty, which gave to some of his opinions too great an air of eccentricity and uncertainty. He had many sympathies in common with his fellow-men, and highly cherished their good opinion, particularly of his own fame. He was ambitious in the highest degree, somewhat overbearing in his desire to be considered ' the Court,' and perhaps thought too highly of his own and too little of his brother judges' opinions, and acted and felt that he was the master-spirit in the settle- ment and determination of all leading questions of juris- prudence. I do not think I should do him injustice if I should say he never delivered an opinion without desiring the presence of a large audience.

" Withal, he was agreeable in his manners, fond of soci- ety, and entertaining to the highest degree in his conversa- tion. Although not educated in his youth in the sciences, he amassed a large amount of learning in reference to nat- ural history, astronomy, antiquarian research, relics, fossils, shells, and aboriginal history, which he gave to the world under the title of the ' Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee,' containing about four hundred pages.

. " He also found leisure to prepare a very minute though somewhat inartistically arranged ' History of Tennessee,' in five hundred pages, from 1770 to 1795, embracing a variety of most interesting traditions, which he obtained from the first settlers of the Cumberland Valley. During his residence in Tennessee he reported three volumes of decisions, given while he was on the bench. He also prepared a manual for clerks and justices.

" Another work which he published during his residence in Tennessee was entitled ' The Evidences of Christianity.' It was much read in Tennessee at the time of its publica- tion. . . . It was a work sui generis. It embraced a variety, it might almost be said a medley, of historical, traditional, scientific, Scriptural, and antiquarian learning. Taken in connection with his ' Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee,' it might be considered a wonderful production. They both dealt largely in the supernatural and marvelous,

giving accounts of earthquakes, dreams, ghosts, meteors, bones of giants and pigmies; caves and strange and super- natural voices which were heard in the air; and portents and signs and wonders; but with all this there was mixed up much real and valuable information, displaying great historical and scientific research. These works have given rise to the common opinion that Judge Haywood was cred- ulous and superstitious, and his introduction into one of those works of a remarkable ghost story, with an apparent belief in its reality, has led many persons to say that he was a believer in ghosts! The truth is, perhaps, that Judge Haywood, like Dr. Johnson and some other great men, could not entirely divest himself of a belief in the supernatural; and it is probable, had he lived in the pres- ent day, he would, like many other distinguished judges, have been a believer in the sciences of phrenology, mes- merism, and clairvoyance. But it might as well be charged against the inimitable author of ' Waverley' that because he wrote the history of demonology and the wonderful story of ' Woodstock' he was a believer in witchcraft as to at- tribute superstition to Judge Haywood because he wrote the marvelous and wonderful things contained in 'The Evi- dences of Christianity' and ' Aboriginal History of Tennes- see.'

" His information and learning were varied and exten- sive, and we might almost apply to him the language of Canterbury when describing King Henry's great attain- ments :

"' Hear him but reason in divinity, And, all-admiring, with an inward wish, You would desire the king were made a prelate ; Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs, You would say, it hath been all in all his study ; List his discourse in war, and you should hear A fearful battle rendered you in music; Turn him to any cause of policy, The Gordian knot of it will be unloose, Familiar as his garter; that when he speaks, The air, a chartered libertine, is still, And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears To steal his sweet and honeyed sentences.'

King Henry V.

" From the moment when he entered the profession his mind and his energies were constantly directed to the im- provement and advancement of his private fortune and the attainment of distinction in his profession. Notwithstand- ing the whole vigor of his powerful mind seemed to have been directed to the science of jurisprudence, he was yet enabled to amass and leave to his children a very large fortune.

" But few men possessed in a higher degree the elements which constitute a great jurist ; and had he been placed under circumstances of fortune and education more favor- able to the development of his faculties, he might, perhaps, have left more enduring monuments of his genius. As it was, however, he impressed his spirit upon the jurisprudence of Carolina and Tennessee, and contributed more than any other man to give it form and shape. From the year 1786, when he began the practice of his profession in his native State, to 1826, when he died, in this State, he has left in the reports of adjudications in these States evidences in every volume of his learning, ability, and indomitable

Digitized by Google

106

HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.

energy of character. And even now his opinions and arguments, whether right or wrong, are more quoted and relied upon in the courts of both these States than those of any other judge who has ever presided in them."

Judge Haywood died on the 22d of December, 1826, at his residence near Nashville, after a few days' illness, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. His death was hastened by his extreme corpulency, which in his old age greatly har- assed him. He left three sons and three daughters.

His children were Thomas Haywood, a lawyer by pro- fession and teacher of fine classical education, who lived and died in this county, at his residence near the Nolens- ville Turnpike, about six miles from Nashville, about 1868; Dr. George Haywood, a well-known physician of Marshall County, where he died some years ago; Dr. Egbert Hay- wood, who practiced in Brownville, Haywood Co., Tenn., where he acquired a fine reputation as a physician, and where he died. Of his three daughters, one married Dr. Moore, of Huntsville, Ala .; one married Col. Jones, of Tuscumbia, Ala .; the third was the wife of Col. Spotts- wood Jones, of Limestone Co., Ala. None of his descend- ants are now residing in Davidson by the name of Hay- wood.

Upon the meeting of the Supreme Court on the first Monday in January, 1827, the late Hon. Felix Grundy offered the following preamble and resolutions, which were adopted :

" Whereas, The Hon. John Haywood, one of the judges of this court, departed this life on the 22d of December last, as an evidence of that high regard justly due to his legal acquirements and extensive erudition, and the great public services rendered to his country, in a long life de- voted to the profession of the law, of which he was the pride and ornament,

" Therefore, 1st. It is ordered by the court, with the unanimous assent of the bar, that the court and the several officers wear crape on the left arm for the space of thirty days.

" 2d. That a similar proceeding be recommended to all the inferior jurisdictions of the State.

"3d. And that these resolutions be entered on the minutes of this court."

HON. JAMES TRIMBLE.

James Trimble, counselor and attorney-at-law, was born in 1781, in Rockbridge Co., Va., a Scotch-Irish settlement famous for its schools and churches and its self-dependent people, and their patriotism during the war of independence. His ancestors-the Trimbles and Alexanders-were plain, educated, and religious people in the middle class of life. The Trimbles of Ohio and Kentucky-two of whom were members of the United States Senate, one a justice of the United States Supreme Court, and several members of the lower house of Congress-were connections. Dr. Archibald Alexander and his sons, well-known divines at Princeton College, New Jersey, were also connections on his mother's side.

James Trimble was educated at Washington College, East Tennessee. He studied law at Staunton, Va., and settled at Knoxville, E. Tenn., the seat of government of

the State at that time. He was soon thereafter chosen a clerk of the General Assembly.

In 1809 he was elected a member of that body from Knox County.

In 1810 he was elected a State circuit judge.

In 1813 he came with his family to Nashville to reside, where he opened a law-office, and followed his profession until his death.

While a member of the General Assembly he procured the charter of the Nashville Female Academy, and upon its organization became an active trustee thereof.

He was also a trustee of Cumberland College, now the University of Nashville, and in connection with Judge Henry Crabb, an eminent member of the Nashville bar, was active in reviving the college in 1823, and he was in- strumental in procuring as its president Philip Lindsley, one of the most famous and distinguished educators of the Mississippi valley.

James Trimble was known throughout the State as one of its leading minds, and as one of the leading members of the Nashville bar. He ranked with Whiteside, Overton, Dickinson, White, Williams, Crabb, and others. His law- library was a large and costly one, consisting of standard English and American works, and with which as a lawyer he was well acquainted. He was also a student of history, and had a choice and select library of English and Amer- ican works.

He was well acquainted with human nature and with the people among whom he lived. In his manners and conversation he was pleasant and affable, and mingled with all classes of society, and had the good-will and respect of the entire community.

His ability, skill, and integrity as a lawyer procured him a large practice and secured to him a large estate, which he bequeathed to his wife and children.

As a citizen, in his politics, he was a Republican, of the school of Madison. In 1822 he preferred Crawford to Jackson, although the latter was a personal friend. From Jefferson and Madison he received several civil commis- sions.

He was a close and intimate friend of John Dickinson, an eminent lawyer, and also with George W. Campbell, Felix Grundy, William Brown, lawyers and well-known public men of Tennessee.

Among the law-students in his office were Gen. Sam Houston, Aaron V. Brown, Judge William E. Kennedy, of Maury County, Samuel P. Montgomery, who was killed at the battle of the Horseshoe under Gen. Jackson, George S. Yerger, attorney general of the State.

He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, and for many years an elder therein. He was liberal in his re- ligious ideas, and was held a man of integrity and honor, and of high moral character.

In his law-cases he was laborious and always well pre- pared to conduct them. His style was that of animated conversation. He reasoned well and was persuasive. His tone of voice and expression of eye told his zeal and interest in his cases. He died, from over-labor in his profession, in July, 1824. His funeral was largely attended by citi- zens of Nashville.

Digitized by Google

107

BENCH AND BAR.

JOHN DICKINSON."

John Dickinson was Massachusetts born and educated, came to Nashville a young man, earned a living as deputy clerk in the office of the United States District Court, and prosecuted the study of the law. His mind and moral greatness, and habits of industry and economy, soon quali- fied him for his profession, and he rose to distinction, and stood among the most eminent of the able men of the pro- fession and times. His success was brain-work and train- ing, close, faithful attention to his business, and honorable conduct; he was a cool, clear-headed, upright, honorable man, respected and esteemed throughout the State for his intellect and moral qualities. Always self-possessed and under self-control, he earned and deserved his high place. He never sought popularity. His self-respect was high, and he deserved and had the respect of his fellow-men. He was one of the able land-lawyers of his day, an able commercial lawyer, and collected the claims of Eastern merchants. He acquired a large and remunerative prac- tice. His capacity and fidelity and honorable conduct se- cured him a large estate,-probably the best estate up to that day which any lawyer had earned and laid up. He died in 1813-14, of consumption, in early manhood, leav- ing a rich widow, young and handsome, and a son. Eph- mim H. Foster, a law-student in his office, afterwards United States senator, married his widow. John Dick- inson and James Trimble were close and intimate friends; the latter survived the former for many years. From him these reminiscences and traits of character of Mr. Dickin- Bon were obtained by the writer, from and through James P. Clark and Thomas Warington.

OLIVER B. HAYS.

Oliver B. Hays was a native of Massachusetts, and re- ceived in that State a liberal education. He studied law and was probably admitted to the bar in the city of Balti- more. Governor Foote is authority for saying that he came to Nashville in 1808, which is probably correct, as he was a partner with Thomas H. Benton before the rc- moval of the latter to Missouri. Mr. Hays had a taste for classical studies, which he pursued more or less all his life. He was a good speaker, had an extensive and accurate ac- quaintance with the law, was an acute, diligent, and ener- getic practitioner. " He appeared often in the argument of land-causes, and the briefs filed by him will be found always to have been skillfully framed and full to exuber- ance of the citations of adjudicated cases."

At middle age he retired from the bar, became a Pres- byterian minister of what was known as the New School, led a rather recluse life, and died an old man in 1858.+

GEORGE S. YERGER.

"Towards the close of the last century a very worthy Dutch family was residing in the town of Lebanon, Tenn., now so celebrated for its institutions of learning, and espc- cially for its law-school. The Yerger mansion is still stand- ing, and in a comfortable state of preservation. In this

* By John Trimble.

t Hays es. Hays, 3 Tenn., chap. Ixxxviii.

house were born eight worthy gentlemen, all brothers, and all but one of them practitioners of law."

The eldest brother was the subject of this notice; he was at one time a prominent member of the Nashville bar, and officiated for some years as reporter of the judicial decisions of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, at first alone and afterwards with his younger brother. Hon. E. H. Ewing, speaking of him in a recent letter, says, "George S. Yerger was rather an uncommon man. I do not know when he came to the bar; I should say, however, not be- fore 1820. He was first a merchant's clerk, with very little education, but felt this to be too narrow a field for his abil- ities. He read law at odd times, and when he began prac- tice soon got into business. He was what might be called eminently an indefatigable man. Ile became State reporter in 1831, and we have ten volumes of his reports. The editing and compiling of these did not interfere with a full and extensive practice at the bar. He was fluent, had a remarkable memory for cases and dates, never gave up a point, however desperate, and occupied a first rank at the bar, where he had as associates and rivals Washington, Fogg, Bell, and others. He removed to Mississippi early in 1839, and there maintained his character as a sound and able lawyer."

Governor Foote speaks of him as an intimate acquaint- ance, and, in some important cases, an associate in practice in Mississippi. He says, " He brought with him to this new home a high reputation for legal learning, and this reputation he succeeded in maintaining unimpaired to the last moment of his life. . . . His impulsive nature was easily roused, but never ran into excesses of any kind. He always spoke with animation, and sometimes with no little fervor and emphasis. His manner was uniformly easy and natural, his diction chaste and unpretending, and his ges- ticulations decorous and impressive. . . . He preferred taking part in the trial of commercial causes, or in the dis- cussion of such as were of equitable jurisdiction ; but he was well fitted both by temperament and intellectual train- ing for the vindication of the innocent or the prosecution of the guilty before courts of criminal cognizance."; He died in Mississippi about 1859.

J. S. YERGER.

J. S. Yerger, a younger brother of the above, possessed many of the qualities of mind which give fame at the bar. His stock of general knowledge was larger than his brother's. His powers of perception were unusually quick, and his judgment strong. He had read deeply and generally, and was a good judge both of men and their motives of action. He was of an eminently sociable disposition, and possessed conversational powers of a most entertaining and instructive order. He had made his mark as a lawyer at this bar be- fore removing to Mississippi, where he became an eminent circuit judge. A still younger brother, William Yerger, was afterwards judge of the Supreme Court of Mississippi. He was a very gifted man, and it is said that an effort of his made in court when he was only twenty-two years of age- his first plea at the Mississippi bar-" suggested almost

# Bench and Bar of the South and Southwest, pp. 78, 79.

Digitized by Google

108

HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE. .

inevitably the examples of intellectual precocity of the younger Pitt and Alexander Hamilton."

In our list we find the name of Samuel Yerger, admitted in Nashville in 1824. He was probably one of the brothers, as seven out of the eight are known to have been lawyers. But of Samuel we have no further account.

GEN. GEORGE W. GIBBS.

Gen. George W. Gibbs was admitted to the Davidson bar in 1817, and was for many years the law-partner of Judge James Rucks. Both maintained high characters as gentlemen, and did a large amount of professional business. Gen. Gibbs settled on a farm near or including the site of Union City, Tenn. The present Secretary of State, Hon. Charles N. Gibbs, is one of his sons.

HON. JOHIN CATRON.

A life of Judge Catron, or rather a somewhat humorous letter embracing the principal points of his life, written by himself from Washington, D. C., in December, 1851, while he was a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, appears in "Sketches of Eminent Americans," having been furnished at the solicitation of John Livingston, Esq., the editor of that work. We have also been furnished with a copy of the same in pamphlet form by the friends of Judge Catron. It is a rich and original document, full of the quaint humor of the judge, which rendered his speeches and writings so pleasing, and often amusing. We regret that we have not space to quote it in full; but such ex- tracts as we shall make will serve the double purpose of giving the reader an outline of his legal career, and at the same time a sample of his racy, original, and interesting style. He begins :

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 26

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