USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > Nashville > History of Nashville, Tenn. > Part 54
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The next Catholic Church established in Nashville was the Church of the Assumption in 1856. The building was erected that year from ma- terial taken largely from the old building on Capitol Hill under the super- vision of the Rev. Ivo Scatchs, a Flemish priest, who was assisted by the German congregation. This building was erected on the corner of Vine and Monroe Streets, and J. H. Buddeke and G. H. Wessel were among the leading spirits in the enterprise. The pastors since the war have been: Rev. Fathers N. J. Konen and L. Schneider, to 1867; W. J. Re- vis, to August, 1871; Philip Rist, to February, 1872; Joseph Uphaus, to June, 1875; F. Xavier Griesmayer, to December, 1875; Mathias Kenk, to 1880; Rev. Clement Roessner, 1881; Rev. D. Dickman, 1882 ; Rev. Clemens, 1883; Rev. S. Kunkler, 1884-85; Revs. Clement Roess- ner and George Fleitch, 1886; Rev. Rochus Schuele, 1887; Rev. Jo- seph Ophaus and Rev. Paulinus Trost, 1888-90.
St. Columbia Church was erected in 1873 by Rev. Father Meagher, on Main Street, near South Fifth. Father Meagher died in Memphis of yellow fever, and was succeeded by Rev. Father Gazzo in 1880, who has remained until the present time.
St. Joseph's Catholic Church is situated on Knowles Street, near Hyne. It was established in 1886, with Rev. R. Scannell, pastor, who was succeeded in 1888 by Rev. P. J. Gleason.
The colored people in Nashville have numerous churches, which are well attended. There are certain denominations, however, which as yet have made no progress in organizing Churches among these people. The Baptist Church has the greatest number of adherents and Church organ- izations among them, the Methodist Episcopal Church the next largest number, the Congregationalists next, the Methodist Episcopal Church,
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South, next, then the Primitive Baptists, and the Christian. There was for several years an Episcopal Church among them, but is none now.
Following are the names, location, etc., of the colored Baptist Churches :
Missionary Baptist, afterward called the First Baptist Church, located on North Spruce Street, between Cedar and Union Streets, of which the Rev. Nelson G. Merry was pastor from 1866 until 1884; Rev. R. T. Huff- man, until 1886; and Rev. M. W. Gilbert, until 1890.
Mount Zion Baptist Church is located on Mclemore Street, near Jef- ferson Street. It was established in 1870. Rev. Jordan Bransford was pastor until 1888, since when Rev. William Anderson has been the pas- tor.
Vandavell Baptist Church was established in 1877, and is situated at the corner of Stewart and Marks Streets, on Treutland Street, near Har- ris. Rev. R. B. Vandavell has been pastor since its establishment.
The Second Baptist Church stands on South Summer Street, near Demonbreun Street. Rev. A. Buchanan has been pastor ever since 1881.
Cedar Street Baptist Church is on Cedar Street, near Park Street. Rev. S. W. Duncan has been pastor since 1887.
Missionary Baptist Church is located on East Hill, near the paper mill. Rev. W. P. T. Jones was pastor in 1881, and Rev. R. Page has been pastor since that time.
Wilson's Springs Baptist Church is located between High and Summer Streets, near Wilson's Spring. Rev. Alexander Winston was pastor dur- ing 1866 and 1867, and Rev. A. Buchanan since 1871.
Mt. Nebo Baptist Church is on the Clifton pike, two miles from the city. Rev. P. H. Benson was pastor in 1878, and Rev. S. D. Dillon since that time.
Missionary Baptist Church is situated on Jefferson Street, near Odd Street. Rev. W. Haynes has been pastor since 1878.
Mt. Olive Baptist Church is located at No. 908 Cedar Street. Rev. R. T. Huffman has been pastor since 1888.
Bass Street Baptist Church is situated at No. 611 Bass Street. Rev. W. Baugus has been pastor since 1889.
Spruce Street Baptist Church is situated on South Spruce Street, near Bass Street. Rev. G. Thompson has been pastor since 1889.
North College Street Baptist Church is located at No. 932 North Col- lege Street. Rev. J. B. Turner has been pastor since 1889.
The colored churches belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Church are as follows :
Capers Chapel is located on Hynes Street, near McCreary. It was
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organized before the war, and occupied a large brick church-edifice near the Nashville and Chattanooga depot. The lot upon which it stood was purchased in 1851 and a chapel erected upon it for the use of the col- ored members of McKendree Church, the M. E. Church, South. The lot and building erected thereon were paid for with money derived from the sale of the old African Church and from subscriptions by citizens and one-half of the proceeds of the sale of the old camp-ground. The old African Church and Capers Chapel were under the control of Mc- Kendree Church. This state of things continued until 1862, when Rev. Dr. Baldwin was arrested by the military authorities and sent to Ohio, leaving Capers Chapel temporarily in charge of a colored preacher, who remained until January 1, 1865, when the bishop of the A. M. E. Church came to Nashville and organized a society, the majority of whom had belonged to Capers Chapel. Of this new society Rev. Elisha Carr was pastor from 1866 until 1869; Rev. N. B. Smith, from 1877 to 1878; Rev. R. P. Newton, during 1882 and 1883; Rev. S. V. Douglas, 1884; Rev. G. T. Stewart, 1885-87; and Rev. J. M. Mitchell, since 1887.
What is now Clark Chapel, M. E. Church, was before the war An- drew Church, erected and named in honor of Bishop James O. Andrew. In 1847 a lot 72x90 feet was conveyed by Joseph T. Elliston to Isaac Paul and others, as trustees for the M. E. Church, South, fronting on Franklin Street between College and Cherry Streets, upon which was erected a substantial brick church-edifice. The congregation had been previously worshiping on the corner of Franklin and Market Streets, where they were embarrassed from want of room. In the new church they continued, with the interruption incident to the war, until 1865, when the property was sold to the Methodist Episcopal Church. A society was organized by Bishop D. W. Clark, and the name Clark Chapel was then given to the church. In the basement of this building a school was opened for the colored people, who hitherto had received no educational instruction on account of the existence of slavery, which school was the nucleus of the present Central Tennessee College, a short historical sketch of which appears elsewhere. The following pastors have preached to this congregation: Rev. John Seys, Rev. Daniel Brown, Rev. W. B. Critchlow, Rev. John Braden, D.D., Rev. W. S. Butler, Rev. James Pickett; Rev. J. G. Thompson, 1874-76; Rev. Charles S. Smith, 1877- 78; Rev. D. W. Hayes, 1879-82; Rev. L. M. Hagood, 1883; Rev. Mr. Bransford, 1888-89; and the present pastor, Rev. M. White.
Thompson Chapel is located near the Central Tennessee College. Rev. John Braden was pastor from 1875 to 1883; Rev. Calvin Pickett, 1884; Rev. S. P. Bell, since that time.
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Bethel Chapel is located on Fairmount Street, near Division Street. Rev. A. J. DeHart was pastor in 1882; Rev. Dallas Turner, in 1883 and 1884; Rev.J. N. Abbey, 1885-88; and Rev. C.W.Norman, since that time.
St. John's Chapel is on North Spruce Street, near Gay Street. Rev. J. W. Early was pastor in 1883; Rev. R. Harper, in 1884; Rev. G. W. Bryant, in 1885 and 1886; Rev. Redford Green, in 1887 and 1888; and Rev. T. A. Thompson, since that time.
Braden Chapel is on Ramsey Street, near South Seventh Street. Rev. W. B. Denny was pastor in 1887; and Rev. W. C. Miller, since that time.
Seay's Chapel is on the corner of Green and Fairfield Streets. Rev. J. Picket was pastor in 1885 and 1886; and Rev. Mr. Primm, since that time.
The colored Congregational Churches are as follows:
Howard Chapel is on McNairy Street, between Church and Hynes Streets. Rev. George Moore was pastor of this Church from 1878 to 1881; and Rev. W. A. Sinclair, since then.
St. James Congregational Church is on the Gallatin Pike, two miles from Nashville. Rev. N. McGavock was pastor during the years {880 and 1881, and Rev. W. A. Nichol has been pastor since that time.
Jackson Street Congregational Church is on Jackson Street, near Clay Street. Rev. Mr. Gilmer was pastor during 1887 and 1888, and Rev. B. B. Johns has been pastor since that time.
Universal Church is on Clay Street, near Pearl Street. Rev. F. Elles- ton has been the pastor since its establishment in 1887.
The following colored Churches belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South :
St. Paul's Church, located on South Cherry Street, near Franklin Street. Rev. W. H. Ogleton was pastor for a few years after its estab- lishment in 1876; Rev. B. Green, during 1881 and 1882; Rev. G. Jack- son, in 1883 and 1884; Rev. Mr. Caldwell, in 1885-88; and Rev. Evans Tyree, since that time.
The Second Church is on Ramsey Street, near South Sixth Street. Rev. Evans Tyree was pastor from 1883 to 1886, and Rev. Mr. Hill has been pastor since that time.
Salem Chapel, A. M. E. Church, is on North Cherry Street, near Carroll Street. Rev. F. F. Crawford was pastor in 1886; and Rev. N. McGavock, since that time.
The colored Christian Church is on Gay Street, between North Vine and North Spruce Streets. It was established in 1866. Its pastors have been Rev. H. S. Berry, Rev. P. Taylor, Rev. S. J. Spurgeon, and S. H. Howell, the latter of whom is pastor at the present time.
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The colored Primitive Baptist Churches are as follows :
Primitive Baptist Church, on Lewis Street, near Green Street, the pas- tor of which has been Rev. Luke Mason since 1879.
United Primitive Baptist Church, on Broad Street, near McNairy Street, of which the pastors have been Rev. A. N. Williams from 1879 to 1884, and Rev. M. Slater since that time.
Bethel Church, on Haslem Street, near Warren Street. Rev. M. Boyd has been pastor of this Church since 1888.
A movement was inaugurated in 1886 to erect a union gospel taber- nacle on Summer Street, just north of Broad Street. In October of that year $26,000 was raised on three years' time, and in May, 1890, $13,- 500 more was raised on six, twelve, and twenty-four months' time. The rough foundations for the tabernacle were laid in the summer of 1889, and in the spring of 1890 the walls were built to the height of about six feet. It is proposed to go on with the building either during the summer of 1890 or in the spring of 1891. When completed it will be the largest and finest tabernacle anywhere in the South, and will be capable of seat- ing six thousand two hundred persons. The money with which this building is to be erected has been mainly raised by Rev. Sam Jones.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE BENCH AND BAR.
The Government of the Notables-Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions-John McNairy, the First Judge-Superior Court of Law and Equity-First Solicitor-general, Andrew Jackson -Governor and Three Territorial Judges-The Inconsistences of Americans-Superior Courts-County and Superior Courts Until 1809-The Supreme Court, Its Immense Value -John Catron, First Chief-justice-Chancery Court-That for Davidson County Sat at Franklin-Extensive Jurisdiction of the Chancery Court-The Circuit Court-Criminal Courts-Federal Courts-Nine Circuit Courts-Judges Emmons, Baxter, and Jackson-Gov- ernor Brownlow's Appointees-Judges Elected by the People-Members of the Nashville Bar.
TN the earlier chapters of this work an account has been given of the Articles of Agreement entered into in 1780, among themselves, by the founders of Nashborough, now Nashville. As these pioneers had gone away beyond all connection with the settlements in the State of North Carolina, of which State Tennessee formed a part previous to 1790; as the mother State was just then in the grasp of Lord Cornwallis and Fer- guson and Tarleton, any other government except that self-imposed was not possible. Court-houses and judges and lawyers there were none in 1780 west of the Cumberland Mountains. But by a section in the Arti- cles of Agreement it was provided as follows:
"The freemen of this country, over the age of twenty-one years, shall immediately, or as soon as may be convenient, proceed to elect or choose twelve conscientious and deserving persons from or out of the different stations-that is to say, from Nashborough, three; Gasper's, two; Bled- soe's, one; Asher's, one; Stone's River, one; Freeland's one, Eaton's, two; Fort Union, one; which said persons, or a majority of them, after being bound by the solemnity of an oath to do equal and impartial justice between all contending parties, according to the best of their skill and judgment, shall be competent judges," etc.
Thus was the Court or Government of Notables established. In their hands the whole power of the infant settlement was lodged. These chosen twelve were Governors, Legislators, Judges-all in one. But why did these pioneers determine that twelve men should constitute this body of Notables? How has the world everywhere and in all ages come to regard the number twelve as possessed of some special value ? Twelve hours of the day, twelve signs of the zodiac, twelve months in a year, twelve tribes, twelve apostles, twelve jurors, twelve superior and twelve inferior gods in mythology. Can it be the result of multiplying the con- stituent parts of the sacred number seven together-thus: 3 × 4 = 12?
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However this may be, the body of twelve continued to govern and ad- minister law in Nashborough until 1783. The Revolutionary War being then ended, North Carolina had time to look after her Western settle- ments. She, by act of her Legislature, simply substituted a Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, consisting of eight commissioned magistrates, for the twelve Notables. The only difference in the two bodies, besides the numerical one, was in the mode of appointment. The twelve were elected by the people of Nashborough and vicinity, and self-sworn and uncommissioned; the eight magistrates were selected by the Legislature of North Carolina, and commissioned by the Governor in the name of the State. But the eight had all the legislative, military, and judicial functions of government in their hands.
It is not to be doubted that as substantial justice was meted out from 1780 to 1788 between man and man by the twelve and the eight as we now get by more usual and accustomed State machinery in the year of grace 1890. But in 1788 North Carolina sent out here a sure-enough judge, in the person of the able John McNairy, who opened a good old- fashioned Superior Court of Law and Equity. The following is the first entry made by John McCay, appointed Clerk of this Court:
"North Carolina. At a Superior Court of Law and Equity begun and held for the counties of Davidson and Sumner, at the court-house in Nashville, on First Monday in November, 1788, present, the Honorable John McNairy, judge. Proclamation was made commanding silence un- der pain of imprisonment while the Judge proceeded in the public busi- ness."
The judge brought along with him a rather remarkable young man from North Carolina. Him he appointed Solicitor-general, or, as we now call this officer, Attorney-general for the State, and the court was fully organized for the regular administration of the common and statute law of the State of North Carolina west of the Cumberland Mountains. This remarkable young man made a most efficient prosecuting attorney for Mero District, an energetic and upright Supreme Judge for the State of Tennessee, a brilliant and ever successful Major-general of the United States, an able treaty-maker with the Indians, the stern but masterful Governor of the Territory of Florida, and a President of the United States who reigned for nearly twenty years with almost absolute sway the whole country, dictating two successors in that high office when he him- self gave up the position. This young man who assisted Judge McNairy in November, 1788, to organize a Superior Court in Nashville was An- drew Jackson, then barely arrived at his majority, but already licensed to practice law. It needs not that the detail of the lives of these two re-
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markable men-John McNairy and Andrew Jackson-shall here be given.
In 1790, North Carolina having ceded the territory west of the Alle- gheny Mountains to the Mississippi River to the United States, it was or- ganized by Congress, under the name of "The Territory South of the Ohio," it then having no more distinctive and peculiar name. It is a pity that it had not been called the Territory of Washington and the State of Washington. Indeed, in 1777 the whole of this section of country, at the request of the bold and patriotic men who then inhabited it, had been named by North Carolina "Washington." It was the first compliment of the kind ever given General Washington, and as it was self-imposed in the darkest hour of the Revolution it seems a pity it should not have continued to designate the first State created by the Congress of the Union out of territory belonging to the nation. What a grand monument it would have been for the nation to have erected to the " Father of His Country" to call the first State created by it for him " First in Peace, First in War, and First in the Hearts of His Countrymen!" But Ten- nessee is a nice and euphonious name, and we now at last have a State of Washington which may in another hundred years prove to be the grandest State of the whole sisterhood.
Under the act organizing the Territory South of the Ohio River the President appointed a Governor and three Territorial Judges, who were to constitute the whole machinery of State until a census should show a voting population of five thousand. Judge McNairy was continued as one of these three Territorial Judges, David Campbell and Joseph An- derson being the other two appointees. Judge Campbell had with Mc- Nairy previously been holding, by commission from North Carolina. President Washington continued Andrew Jackson in the office of District Attorney for the Mero District of the Territory, which office he held un- til the Territory in 1796 was merged into the State of Tennessee, when he was elected the first and sole representative of the new State in the Congress of the United States.
Speaking of this territorial government reminds one how very incon- sistent we have been in regard thereto. The war of the revolution was grounded on resistance to the claim of Parliament to tax the colonies while they were unrepresented in that body. But in organizing the North-western Territory, and also the Territory South of the Ohio, all the officers of these Territories were to be appointed by Congress and the President. It looks funny to see on our statute book from 1790 on to 1794 the captions of laws which read: "By William Blount, Governor in and over the Territory of the U. S. A. South of the Ohio River;"
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" Be it ordained that the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions," etc., signed only " William Blount." And there are other laws passed with the following heads: "By William Blount, Governor in and over the Territory South of the Ohio River, David Campbell and Joseph Ander- son, Esq., two of the Judges in and over said Territory, Be it enacted," etc. From the end of the Revolution until now we have continued to tax the people of our Territories and the District of Columbia without giving them any representation in Congress. A citizen of the United States liv- ing in a Territory or the District of Columbia votes for no Presidential electors, for no Senators in Congress, for no Congressional Representa- tive in the true sense, and cannot sue a citizen of a State in the United States Courts; in fact, he has no political power whatever. Before the late admission of the four new States we had certainly half as many sub- jects of the Union in Territories and the District of Columbia that we were subjecting to Congressional taxation with no representation as were in the colonies when they resisted the claim of the British Parliament to exercise a like power. This is certainly very curious and not very con- sistent, to say the least.
In 1794 the Territory, having more than five thousand votes, became entitled, under the act of Congress providing for its organization, to have- a House of Representatives elected by the people. The legislative coun- cil of the Governor constituted the Upper House, and continued to exist until the formation of the State government. The courts continued as be- fore to consist of Justices of the Peace, the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, made up of the Justices of the Peace of the county ;. and the Superior Court of Equity and Law, consisting of three judges, any one of whom might hold the court and exercise its general jurisdiction, both original and appellate, in both civil and criminal cases. The County Courts continued until 1835 to exercise all criminal jurisdiction below cases of felony. Felony cases with a grand and traverse jury were always tried in the Superior Courts, which in 1809 were called Circuit Courts, which name they bear now. The only change made in the court system in 1794 by the Territorial Legislature was to provide that each county in the Ter- ritory should have a State's Attorney.
John McNairy continued judge for what we would now call Middle Tennessee, and Andrew Jackson District Attorney, both holding until the organization of the new State of Tennessee, when Judge McNairy was appointed District Judge of the United States for Tennessee by the Pres- ident, and Jackson was sent to Congress.
When the Territory became a State the new Constitution sought by the life tenure of the judges to render the courts independent, but was de-
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fective in leaving the whole power of organizing courts to the Legislature, by providing that "The judicial power of this State shall be vested in such Superior and Inferior Courts of Law and Equity as the Legislature shall from time to time direct and establish." The judges were to be elected by the Legislature by convention of both Houses. But, as stated above, the State Legislature continued the two Courts-County and Su- perior-until 1809; when there was organized a Supreme Court, the Su- perior Court was turned into the Circuit Court, and the County Court continued as before. The Supreme Court, with appellate jurisdiction only, was to consist of two supreme judges, and one of the circuit judges of the State to sit with them; but the next year the attendance of a cir- cuit judge was not required, and when the two supreme judges differed in opinion the judgment of the Circuit Court appealed from was to be sustained. Although the existence of a Supreme Court was provided for, it was not that third co-ordinate and co-equal constitutional department of government anchored in the Constitution, and thus able with the Con- stitution in its hand to say to the other departments: " Hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther." The constitutional Supreme Court, State and Federal, with this tremendous power conferred upon it, is an entirely new American invention in governmental organization, and has in the past hundred years proved the very sheet-anchor of constitutional liberty. The want of such a court is acknowledged by Mr. Gladstone as being the great defect of the British Constitution. For this peculiar power con- ferred on the Federal Supreme Court we are indebted to Thomas Jeffer- son, who in a letter to Mr. Madison-who was a member of the Philadel- phia Constitutional Convention of 1787, and was trying to give supervisory and almost the supreme power of the British Parliament to the Congress- said Mr. Madison's plan would not work, and would involve too much friction between the State and nation; and proceeded to suggest the Federal Supreme Court instead, with appellate jurisdiction over State courts on Federal questions, as the better plan. Fortunately for the na- tion, Mr. Jefferson's idea was adopted not only by the nation, but since gradually by each and every one of the States in the organization of their State systems of judicature. But it is a curious fact that Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison both subsequently, in the famous resolutions of 1798-99 of Virginia and Kentucky, combated the idea that the Federal Court could be the final judge of a constitutional controversy, or a question be- tween the nation and a State. It may be that Tennessee, which was or- ganized in 1796 by the party of which Mr. Jefferson was the head and dominant chief, was induced to subordinate the judicial to the legislative department by the prevalence of Mr. Jefferson's then distaste to the dom-
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inance which had been conferred upon the Federal judiciary. But to the credit of the very able lawyers who constituted the Supreme Court from 1809 to 1834, the precarious tenure by which their court existed did not prevent them from boldly declaring many favorite and popular measures of the Legislature to be unconstitutional, null, and void. The court, for its temerity at one time in such a contest with the Legislature, escaped being swept out of existence by only one vote. But in the amended Con- stitution of 1834 this defect of our system was corrected, and the grand American idea of three co-equal and constitutional departments of gov- ernment-the executive, legislative, and judicial-was carried out in these words:
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