History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 29

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 29

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).

Digitized by Google

116

HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.

While waiting for that recognition which his learning and talents justly entitled him to expect, he was constantly busy in his office and among his books, mingling in his daily exercises the study of law, politics, and abstruse literature, and never forgetting to keep up and extend his critical learning in the ancient classics. He was thus improving himself and enlarging those rich and abundant stores which subsequently obtained for his judgment and opinions almost oracular authority.

Mr. Fogg was for nearly twenty-five years the law-part- ner of Hon. Ephraim H. Foster. The latter member was engaged in the law practice, and the former in the chancery practice. A living member of the bar, intimately acquainted with Mr. Fogg, says, " He was exceedingly well educated, and even profoundly read in the elements of the law. He soon made his mark, and before 1830 was one of the leaders of the bar of Tennessee. He was a man of high honor, of amiable temper, of pleasing and kindly manners, always ready to help and instruct the younger members of the bar, with whom he was universally popular. I acknowledge my ob- ligations to him in many a difficulty. He was the most learned lawyer of his day in Tennessee. He had an extra- ordinary memory, especially for dates and cases. Of him it might be truly said, he was a walking library. He was eminently a lawyer calculated for the Chancery and Su- preme Courts, not a jury lawyer. He was of a quick appre- hension and suggestive mind, able in exposition, a fluent speaker, and overflowing with learning, both classical and legal. It was a delight to hear him, even when one took no interest in the particular case to which he addressed himself. The late Chancellor Cahal, a man of strong mind and strong appetites, was in the habit of saying that he would rather hear Mr. Fogg speak than to cat. Mr. Fogg's brain did fairly overflow with learning. He was a long time a partner of Hon. E. H. Foster, and also for a while a partner of W. L. Brown. He never interfered in party politics, looking with some disdain upon the ignoble con- flicts to which they give rise. He was a mild Union man during the civil war, but found much to censure on both sides. He will leave behind him a character unstained and almost unapproachable. He was a true but large- hearted and liberal Christian. One might well say, May my last days be like his !" Mr. Fogg died on the 13th day of April, 1880, aged eighty-five years.

" A large number of lawyers and citizens assembled yes- terday afternoon at two o'clock in the Circuit Court room to offer a public tribute of respect to the memory of the late Francis B. Fogg, Esq.

" The meeting was called to order by ex-Governor Neill S. Brown, who made a motion, which was adopted, that Judge J. C. Guild take the chair. Mr. Nicholas Vaughn and the American representative were chosen secretaries.

" After the purpose of the meeting had been stated with some eulogistic remarks upon the character of the deceased and the recognition of his qualities due to the occasion, the chairman, upon motion, appointed a committee of six to draft and report suitable resolutions. The committee, com- posed of J. B. White, ex-Governor Neill S. Brown, Judge E. HI. East, Gen. T. T. Smiley, George Stubblefield, and Judge J. M. Lea, made the following report :

""' This meeting have heard with deep regret of the death of our esteemed and distinguished friend and fellow-citizen, Hon. Francis B. Fogg, which occurred at the residence of Col. W. B. Reese, in this city, on the morning of the 13th inst.

"' Mr. Fogg was born in Brooklyn, Conn., in 1795, and after receiving an education, both scholastic and legal, emi- grated to Tennessee in 1817, where he made his home for the remainder of his life. Upon his settlement in Tennes- see he commenced the practice of law, which he pursued with unremitting diligence for half a century, until age and disease disqualified him for labor. It is no disparagement to his many distinguished cotemporaries in the profession during that long and eventful period to say that he had few rivals and no superiors. His success was eminent. He commanded the confidence of the community in a remark- able degree. To a mind naturally strong and vigorous he united rare industry, and, with original scholarship of a high order, he was able to amass stores of learning on all subjects. He possessed a wonderful memory, by which he could recall cases and incidents that most others had for- gotten. He was familiar, not only with the history of the law, but with the history of this and other countries.

" ' Mr. Fogg was not ambitious for office, and never sought promotion; but, in 1834, he was, by the voluntary action of this community, elected a member of the Constitutional Convention, and took a prominent part in its deliberations. In 1851-52 he was elected to the State Senate from this county, and aided efficiently in inaugurating our system of internal improvements, which has done so much for the State. He was also prominent in the establishment of the free schools of Nashville, which have accomplished so much for its pop- ulation.

"'In a word, he was the friend of education in all its phases, and contributed whatever he could to make society better and happier. It is impossible now to tell how many of the statutes that adorn our code and measure and regu- late the rights of persons and property he was the author of. It was the habit of legislators to call upon him on all occasions for aid in the preparation of bills.

"' But in this hour of sorrow at his loss, it is consoling to reflect upon his high moral nature. He lived a long life of struggle and toil, but no stain of vice rests upon his mem- ory. He was a Christian gentleman,-the highest eulogium that can be paid to any man,-and for half a century he was a consistent member of the Episcopal Church. But in religion, as in everything else, he was tolerant to all. If he could have had his way he would have made all men prosperous and happy, without any special superiority to himself; therefore,

"' Resolved, That in the death of Francis B. Fogg not only this bar, but the whole State, has sustained a great loss.

"' Resolved, That we will attend his funeral at four o'clock this afternoon.

" ' Resolved, That this preamble and resolutions be pub- lished in the city papers, and that a copy be transmitted to the family of the deceased.'

" A motion was then made, and adopted, that a committee of one for each court be appointed to present the resolutions

Digitized by Google

117

BENCH AND BAR.

and request that they be spread upon the minutes. The following were appointed : Mr. R. McPhail Smith, for the Federal Court ; Gen. George Maney, for the Circuit Court ; Mr. Matthew W. Allen, for the Chancery Court; Mr. J. W. Horton, Jr., for the Criminal Court ; and Judge John C. Gaut, for the Supreme Court.

" While the committee on resolutions were absent, Hon. Horace H. Harrison made the following address, which, on motion of Gen. Maney, was directed to be published as an accompaniment to the resolutions :

"' MR. CHAIRMAN : I approach the bier of the distin- guished and worthy dead, whose life and character we have met to speak of, with solemnity, affection, and veneration.

"' He illustrated in his long and useful career all the sterling virtues which can adorn human character. He was true to himself, true to his friends, and true to his pro- fessions. He was never known to break a promise, or to be guilty of the slightest dissimulation. He was just in his dealings and just in holding the scales as he judged his fellow-men.

"' He was prudent, temperate, discreet, and charitable. He was quict in his demeanor, unobtrusive in his manner, and actually shrank from notoriety and prominence. He never seemed to be conscious of his own intellectual power, or to realize that he possessed the most extensive and varied acquirements. While he was a giant in intellect and attain- ments, he was a child in the simplicity and modesty of his general bearing. Of his profound legal learning I need not speak in this presence. The reports of causes argued and decided in the highest court in our State for forty years, until within the last few years, are full of evidences of his industrious labors, his skill in dealing with the intri- eate and difficult questions before that court, and of the prominent rôle he played in building up our jurisprudence.

"' He has been thrown into the most intricate professional association with three generations of lawyers in Tennessee, and no man who ever lived in our State has been more universally honored and respected by his brethren.

"' No unkind word was ever heard to fall from his lips. No bitter resentments ever found a place in his bosom. Nearly thirty years ago I was an officer of the State Senate, of which he was a member, and during the eventful session of that body, of 1851-52, I learned to know him well. In the heated debates of that session he never lost his equality of temper or uttered an unkind word against his political opponents, and it was noticeable that at the close of the session the Democratic members of the Senate were as warmly and affectionately devoted to him as were the Whigs with whom he acted.

"' He never sought an office. Those he filled so ably and conscientiously were thrust upon him.

"' He lived out more than his threescore-and-ten years, and died at peace with the world at the advanced age of eighty-five, a ripened sheaf ready to be garnered in that unseen country to which faith, hope, and love all, all com- bined to lead his tottering steps.

" He has gone from us. No more will his voice be heard in our temples of justice. No more his kindly greetings to lawyers, young and old, will be extended; but his name we will find on the pages of our State Reports so frequently that

we will be continually reminded of him, as in his day, the foremost lawyer in the State, and his character and example will, I trust, continually excite in all of us a desire to emu- late his sterling qualities of head and heart.

"' He needs no other monument to perpetuate his memory than those which he himself has erected. The Constitu- tion of 1834, the legislation which sent the locomotive through the valleys and under and over the hills and mountains of his adopted State, the jurisprudence of the State which he aided so powerfully in placing on firm foundations, and the public-school system of our beautiful and prosperous city, will speak his praises and remind us of the master-builder long after those who knew and loved him have passed away.'

" Governor Neill S. Brown then addressed the meeting. He said he could never forget when he first met the distin- guished man. He had heard of him before he knew of Coke or Blackstone. He had supposed this eminent law- yer, like many other men in high life, was arrogant and self-sufficient. He had been surprised to find a man affable and simple of manner and generous of heart. And throughout his long acquaintance with him he found him what he now could say of him, the kindest man he ever knew. His life was an example to every young man. No finger of criticism could be put upon it. He acted out the principles of honor and of the Christian religion. Governor Brown here related incidents illustrative of the wonderful memory Mr. Fogg possessed, and which he made profitably useful to others around him as well as to himself. His death was a premonition to others of the bar who were old in years. There was something to lament in the devas- tation of death, even among the aged. How old must a man grow whom we have known and loved that we should be willing to see him die ? It was not well for them to refrain to give just meed to Francis B. Fogg, for who had done as much as he ? His handiwork could be seen all through the history of Tennessee. His great, quiet, unobtrusive merit, contrasted with that which has laurels and plaudits from the multitude, was what won the hearts of those who knew him. There was no better way to close these words than to apostrophize him :

"' Full of honors and of years, fare thee well ! While o'er thy tomb all Tennessee will sigh, The lessons of thy life shall tell

The young how to struggle and the old how to dic.'

" Mr. Jackson B. White here related of the deceased an incident of his great legal and historical learning which astonished those who knew of it, and which had been the cause of a great event. Shortly after the war a large gath- ering of Nashville lawyers were assembled at a session of the United States Court, over which Judge Trigg presided, and at which the famous test oath was administered. Mr. Fogg refused to take the oath, and gave his reasons in an exhaustive argument, which he sustained with a wealth of historical reference and illustration that combined to make his objections irresistible. When he finished his remarks, he left the court-room, followed by a number of citizens who with him had refused to take the oath. Judge Trigg, turning to Mr. White, told him to go after Mr. Fogg and induce him to write out his argument and present in the

Digitized by Google

118

HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.

proper way, and the law would be repealed. Mr. Fogg de- clined to do this, as he did not believe he could completely recall what he had said. It had all occurred to him as he spoke. Col. W. B. Reese, however, wrote as much of it as he could recall, and it was presented to the court at Knoxville, where the same Judge Trigg declared the oath unconstitutional. Mr. Fogg was, perhaps, the first lawyer in the country to argue against the constitutionality of the act of Congress in prescribing the oath.

"Several other citizens made warmly eulogistic allusions to the character and bore witness to the profound and varied learning of the distinguished lawyer.

" The meeting was one which evoked deep interest. The older members of the bar always spoke with emotion when they talked of the pure life of the man they had known and honored and who was gone from among them.

" The meeting then adjourned."

GODFREY M. FOGG,

a brother of Francis B., was a worthy and respectable man of business and a practitioner at the Nashville bar.

HON. AARON V. BROWN.

Governor Brown was a student-at-law in Nashville with Judge Trimble, and entered the profession in this city. He was born on the 15th of August, 1795, in the county of Brunswick, Va., the same county in which Gen. James Robertson was born. His father, the Rev. Aaron Brown, enlisted when not yet of lawful age for three years in the Revolutionary army. He was in the battle of Trenton, and participated in that ever-memorable march through the Jerseys where the course of Washington's army was known to the enemy by the blood of its barefooted soldiery. He was also one of the sufferers in the encampment at Valley Forge during the severe winter of 1777-78, where disease, famine, and nakedness so often drew tears from the illustrious Washington. At the close of his term of service he returned to the county of Brunswick, where he continued to reside for nearly forty years in the midst of those who had witnessed his early and patriotic career, re- spected and honored by all as a faithful and useful minister of the gospel of the Methodist persuasion, an upright civil magistrate, a staunch Republican of the old Jefferson school, and an honest man.

The subject of this memoir was the issue of his sec- ond marriage, with Elizabeth Melton (corrupted from Mil- ton), of Northampton Co., N. C. Except in the simplest clements, Governor Brown was educated in the last-men- tioned State. He was sent when very young to Westray- ville Academy, in the county of Nash, in order to be placed under the care of Mr. John Babbitt, one of the best edu- cators of his time. After continuing there for two years, he was transferred in 1812 to the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill. He graduated at this institu- tion in 1814, in a large class, of which Senator Mangum and Ex-Governor Manley, of North Carolina, were also mem- bers. The duty was assigned to him by the faculty and trustees of delivering the valedictory oration on commence- ment-day, and the service was performed in a manner which produced the most striking impression on the large

assembly then in attendance. The collegiate career of but few young men is marked by incidents of sufficient im- portance to be noticed in a sketch like this. Industry in preparing for and punctuality in attending at the hour of recitation, as well as the most cheerful conformity to the rules of the institution, were the most striking charac- teristics of his educational course. And it should be added that these characteristics, becoming a confirmed habit, were of great service in after-life in his professional and public career.

Having finished his educational career, Governor Brown returned to his parents, who in the previous year had re- moved to the county of Giles, in Tennessee. About the beginning of the year 1815 he entered upon the study of his profession in the office of the late Judge Trimble at Nashville. With this gentleman he continued to read for two years, and often referred to him as one of the most sympathetic, able, and upright men he ever knew. Hav- ing obtained a license, he opened an office in Nashville, and commenced practice with the most flattering prospects of success.

About this time, however, Alfred M. Harris, who was engaged in an extensive practice in all the southern coun tics in Middle Tennessee, accepted a place on the bench, and solicited Governor Brown to remove to the county of Giles and close up his extensive business for him. The opportunity was inviting, and that being the residence of his now aged parents, he determined to settle in that county. Taking charge at once of an extensive practice, both civil and criminal, including the land-litigations, then an important and almost distinctive branch of the profes- sion, Governor Brown found all the resources of his mind brought into immediate requisition. No time was to be lost in idleness, none to be devoted to pleasure. One of his maxims about this period was " Always to be the first at court, and never to leave it until the adjourning order was made." Under such habits it was no matter of sur- prise to those who observed them that there were but few causes of importance in the counties in which he practiced in which he was not engaged.

In a few years after Governor Brown commenced his career in Giles the late President Polk commenced his in Columbia, in the adjoining county of Maury. They soon formed a law-partnership, thereby extending the field of their professional labors into more counties than they could have done without this union of interests. This partner- ship continued for several years, until Mr. Polk engaged in his Congressional career. Its dissolution brought no termi- nation of that cordial friendship, personal and political, in which it had commenced, and which continued until the death of the late lamented President. Governor Brown continued engaged in profession until the year 1839, when, having been elected to Congress, he gave it up altogether. Much of the time in which he was engaged in regular and full practice he was also a member of one branch or the other of the State Legislature. This service, being near home, and the counties he represented being those in which he practiced, produced no material impediment to the prog- ress of his professional business. But the case was different in his distant service in Congress. Governor Brown served

Digitized by Google

119

BENCH AND BAR.

as a senator from the counties of Lincoln and Giles at all the sessions of the Legislature, regular and called, from 1821 to 1827 inclusive, except the session of 1825, when he was not a candidate. In the session of 1831-32 he was the representative of the county of Giles in the other branch of the General Assembly. In this session, by the order of the judiciary committee, he prepared an elaborate and able report, which he submitted to the House, on the subject of capital punishment, which attracted great atten- tion throughout the country.

Governor Brown first became a candidate for Congress in 1839, and during the period of his Congressional services- beginning 1839 and ending 1845-he seems to have been an active member, taking a part in nearly all the great questions which came up during that eventful period of our political history. His services in Congress ended with the commencement of President Polk's administration. He declined any office under the administration, and deter- mined to return home and devote himself to the education of his children and the management of his own private affairs. Before he reached home, however, he was nomi- nated by the Democrats as a candidate for Governor of Tennessee, and met the news of his candidacy at Pittsburgh on his return. He hesitated several days before accepting the nomination. It conflicted with his purpose to retire to private life, and opened a wide field of labor with what seemed a doubtful prospect of success. The Whig strength had not yet been decisively broken in the State, notwithstanding the prestige gained by the election of Mr. Polk to the Presidency. Besides, Mr. Polk, in organizing his administration and selecting his friends for different offices, had withdrawn from the State some of the most influential and powerful members of the party. He himself was gone, Hon. Cave Johnson was gone, Gen. Robert Armstrong was gone, and several others, whose weight had always been felt in State elections. Discouraging, however, as were the prospects, he finally determined to take the field against Col. S. Foster, a late senator, and one of the most popular and able men of the Whig party. The discussions of the canvass turned chiefly on the tariff, the admission of Texas, and the Oregon question. Governor Brown was elected by a majority of fifteen or sixteen hundred, but in the canvass of 1847 he was defeated by about half that number. At this period, and for some time previous, political parties in Tennessee were so evenly balanced that they carried the State alternately against each other.

In 1848, Governor Brown was a candidate for Presi- dential elector- at-large, and canvassed the State with great vigor.

In 1850 he was a member of the Southern Convention, held at Nashville, and while he concurred fully in the reso- lutions passed by that body, dissented from and protested against the address.

He was also a delegate to the Baltimore convention in 1852, and introduced a resolution into that body, raising a committee of one from each State, to be appointed by the delegates of the same, to whom all the resolutions relative to the principles or platform of the Democratic party should be referred without debate. This postponing the discussion of resolutions till after the report of the committee was an

important improvement, the utility of which was at once perceived by the convention, and the resolution was adopted. Governor Brown was unanimously appointed chairman of the committee, and reported the platform, which gave such general satisfaction to the party throughout the United States. He was, in fact, the great platform-maker of his party at most of the important conventions.

BAILIE PEYTON.

Half a century ago Bailie Peyton and Henry A. Wise were practicing attorneys in Nashville. Both have since become renowned names,-one in Tennessee and the other in Virginia, their native States.

Bailie Peyton was born in Sumner County in 1803. In 1824 he was admitted to the Davidson County bar, and soon after formed a partnership with Henry A. Wise, then a young man about of his own age, whom he met for the first time in Nashville. Being of a congenial disposition, they at once became familiar and intimate friends. Nature had lavished her gifts upon both, and at the commencement of their career hosts of admiring friends predicted for them alike quite as much distinction as it was afterwards their fortune to acquire. The partnership lasted about two years, when Mr. Wise returned to win honor and distinction in a most brilliant political career in his native State. Mr. Peyton remained to become no less renowned in Tennessee.

Mr. Peyton was a Whig, and was thirty years of age when he first ran for Congress, in 1833. His competitor was Col. Archie Overton. Peyton was elected, and was returned twice afterwards, serving till 1839. He was lieutenant-colonel of a Louisiana regiment in the Mexican war, and was conspicuous for his gallantry. He entered heartily and eloquently into the canvass for both of the successful Whig candidates, Harrison and Taylor. The latter appointed him United States district attorney at New Orleans, and, with the concurrence of the United States Senate, sent him as minister to Chili. By President Pierce he was tendered the portfolio of the war department, but declined it, preferring to engage in the practice of law in California. How long he practiced there we are not in- formed.

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 29

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