USA > Tennessee > Williamson County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 46
USA > Tennessee > Maury County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 46
USA > Tennessee > Rutherford County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 46
USA > Tennessee > Wilson County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 46
USA > Tennessee > Bedford County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 46
USA > Tennessee > Marshall County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 46
USA > Tennessee > History of Tennessee from the earliest time to the present , together with an historical and a biographical sketch of from twenty-five to thirty counties of east Tennessee, besides a valuable fund of notes, original observations, reminiscences, etc., etc. V. 1 > Part 46
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John Trimble, a son of James Trimble, who has been previously men- tioned, attained a high degree of eminence in the profession. At the age of twenty-four he was elected attorney-general for the Nashville Dis- trict, a position which he held for six years. In 1843 he was elected a member of the lower house of the General Assembly, and two years later to the Senate. He refused a renomination, and for the next few years devoted himself to his professional labors, acquiring a large practice. In 1859 he again entered politics, being elected to the State Senate. He was a stanch Union man, and during the extra session of 1861 did all in his power to defeat the passage of the ordinances of secession. In 1862 he was commissioned United States district attorney, which office he held for two years. In 1865 he was again elected to the State Senate, and two years afterward was chosen to represent his district in the XL Congress. He had a taste for literary pursuits, which at times became almost a passion, and for several years of his life he devoted himself ahnost entirely to study. Had he been ambitious to rise either in his profession or in the political world, he could have attained to the highest position in either.
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Judge Thomas L. Williams, for a long time chancellor of East Ten- nessee, was one of the most highly respected members of the profession who ever practiced in the courts of the State. He was a man of strong constitution and of great energy and force. He scorned all effeminate self-indulgence, and his powers of endurance seemed almost unlimited. He held thirty-eight courts in nineteen different counties in a year, and in going from one point to another had to travel over rough mountain roads, at times almost impassable. His judicial career presents an ex- ample of industry and adherence to official duty rarely excelled. Although he possessed highly respectable attainments in his profession, he was not a learned lawyer nor an accomplished scholar; but he pos- sessed in an eminent degree that highest and most valuable of all intel- lectual gifts, strong, vigorous, practical, common sense. He retired from the chancellorship in 1854, and died at Nashville, December 2, 1856.
Thomas C. Lyon, of the Knoxville bar, was a native of Roane Coun- ty, born in 1810. He enjoyed the reputation of an able and successful lawyer, and a thorough and profound jurist. He was a man of fine sensibilities and a high sense of honor. He sat frequently upon the supreme bench as a special judge, and his opinions are generally re- garded as not inferior to those of the most learned jurists. He was a fine linguist and an accomplished scholar, with considerable taste for poetical composition. When he was quite young his father removed to Knox- ville, where he received his education, graduating from East Tennessee College. During the Mexican war he served on the staff of Gen. Wool, with the rank of major. He died in Richmond, Va., October 1, 1864.
William H. Sneed, another prominent member of the Knoxville bar, was born in Davidson County in 1812, and soon after attaining his majority began the practice of law at Murfreesboro. He early at- tained a high standing, which he fully maintained to the end of his life. In 1843 he was chosen to the State Senate, and soon after the expiration of his term of office married the only daughter of Alexander Williams, of Greeneville, where he then located, and in partnership with Robert J. McKinney practiced his profession for about a year. In 1845 he re- moved to Knoxville, where he at once took a prominent position, and in 1855 was elected to represent his district in Congress. He died at his home in 1869.
Horace Maynard, for many years a leading lawyer and politician of East Tennessee, was born in Massachusetts in 1814. He received his early education in Charleston, S. C., but graduated from Amherst Col- lege in 1838. He soon after removed to East Tennessee, locating at Knoxville, where he was employed as a professor in the University of
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East Tennessee until 1844. He then entered upon the practice of law and soon was recognized as one of the leading attorneys in that division of the State. In 1857 he took his seat as a member of the XXXV Congress, and continued as a member of that body until the expiration of the XLIII Congress, with the exception of from 1863 to 1865, when he was attorney-general of Tennessee. Having with Andrew John- son espoused the principles of the Republican party, he remained faithful to them. He served during the greater portion of President Hayes' administration as minister to Turkey, and also for a short time as Post- master-General. He was a man of distinguished ability, was a forcible and clear speaker and always entertaining. He died May 3. 1882.
At the close of the civil war, the supreme court was reorganized with Samuel Milligan, J. O. Shackleford and Alvin Hawkins, as judges appointed by the governor. Frequent changes occasioned by resignation occurred, until the adoption of the new constitution in 1870.
Samuel Milligan was born in Greene County, Tenn., "of poor but respectable parents." His father was unable to give him a better educa- tion than could be obtained at an old field school; but being possessed of a well balanced and indomitable energy he determined to take a college course. In this he was successful and graduated from Tusculum College. He studied law with Robert J. McKinney, but before begin- ning practice he was elected to the General Assembly, serving two terms. He was admitted to the bar in 1846, but soon after joined the army and served as a major in the Mexican war. After his return home he practiced his profession until the civil war. In 1868 he resigned his seat upon the supreme bench, and was made one of the judges of the court of claims at Washington, a position he held until his death in 1874. He was an able advocate, and an impartial and incorruptible judge.
Alvin Hawkins entered the profession of the law as a student under Judge Totten at the age of nineteen. About two years later he located at Camden, Benton County, where he remained only a short time, when he returned to Huntington. In 1854 he was chosen to represent his county in the General Assembly, and in 1862 was elected to Congress but did not take his seat. He remained loyal to the Union, however, and in 1864 was appointed United States District Attorney for West Tennes- see, by President Lincoln, a position which he resigned the following year to accept a seat upon the Supreme Bench. As an advocate he has few superiors, and is especially strong before a jury. He is an effective speaker at all times, and possesses oratorical powers of a high order. His native talents are of a high order and have been well cultivated, and they have won for him just and deserved distinction.
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James O. Shackleford was a native of Kentucky, but at an early age removed with his parents to Missouri. During his early manhood he was engaged in trapping in New Mexico and other parts of the Southwest. After his return he studied law and began practice at Dover, Stewart County. Later he removed to Clarksville, and formed a partnership with James Rivers, with whom he practiced for a time. He afterward was associated with Gustav A. Henry, continuing until the beginning of the civil war. During that struggle he espoused the Union cause, yet he always sympathized with the misfortunes of his neighbors on the other side, and through his influence prevented much suffering. In 1865, with Hawkins and Milligan, he was placed upon the supreme bench by ap- pointment of Gov. Brownlow. He resigned in 1867, but was reappointed the following year. In 1869 he resumed the practice of his profession in Nashville; there he continued until about 1875, when he moved to Colorado. Judge Shackleford was a man of good ability and consider- able learning. He was not an eloquent speaker, but possessed reasoning powers of a high order.
Andrew Mclain, one of the supreme judges elected in 1869, was born in Smith County and began his career as a lawyer at Carthage. He soon became one of the leading attorneys in that county and was made judge of the circuit court. After his retirement from the supreme bench in 1870 he practiced law in Nashville until February, 1882, when he received the appointment to the office of United States District Attorney. Upon the change in the administration of the Federal Government in 1885 he was retired, and now resides in San Diego, Cal. He is well read in his profession, but is not a successful advocate, being somewhat lacking in tact and skill. He is a man, however, of unquestioned integ- rity, and of the strictest moral rectitude.
George Andrews was born in Putney, Vt., in 1826. His boyhood was spent in his native State, in western New York and in Michigan. He studied law in Detroit, where he was admitted to the bar in 1857, and continued to practice his profession until 1865, when he came to Ten- nessee. In December, 1868, he was appointed by Gov. Brownlow a judge of the supreme court, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Milligan. He was elected to the same position at the judicial elec- tion in May, 1869, and continued upon the bench until the adoption of the new constitution in 1870. In December, 1871, he was appointed United States District Attorney for the eastern district of Tennessee, which position he continued to hold until his resignation in February, 1879. Since that time he has practiced his profession in Knoxville; since January 1, 1881, in partnership with J. M. Thornburgh.
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
Henry Gratton Smith, the successor of Judge Hawkins upon the su- preme bench, was for a long time a distinguished member of the bar of Tennessee. His entire career was marked by a love of truth and upright- ness, a scrupulous fairness toward adversary counsel and parties, and a laborious, painstaking attention to ascertain the true principle of law. It could not be claimed for him, perhaps, that he had no superiors in the profession, yet his learning and ability were decidedly above mediocrity. During the civil war he remained loyal to the National Government, yet he conducted himself with such rare discretion and dignity as to win the esteem of even his enemies. His opinions and judgments as they are found in the official reports attest to his ability and his devotion to the duties of his high office.
Horace H. Harrison was born in Lebanon, Wilson County, August 7, 1829. In 1841 the family removed to MeMinnville, having meanwhile resided in Sumner and Robertson Counties. The father died in 1845, leaving young Harrison, at the age of fifteen, the sole support of his mother, Up to that time he had received a liberal education, but this event prevented him from completing his college course. He entered the office of the county clerk, and during the next seven years served in that office, the office of the clerk and master of the chancery court, and that of the register of deeds. In 1853 he was elected a director of the Mc- Minnville & Manchester Railroad, and two years later began the prac- tice of law in the Mountain Circuit, where he enjoyed a large practice from the first.' In 1859 he removed to Nashville. In 1862 he was ap- pointed clerk of the Federal courts for Middle Tennessee. August 15, 1863, he was commissioned United States District Attorney, a position he held until 1866. He was then appointed chancellor by Brownlow, and the following year was elected to the supreme bench. In 1872 he was again appointed United States District Attorney, and afterward was elected to Congress from the Nashville District. At the end of his time he resumed the practice of law, continuing until his death, which occurred December 20, 1885. Judge Harrison was able and scholarly, and even his political opponents always conceded his purity and honesty. As a speaker and writer he was noted for clearness of statement and earnest- ness of manner.
Robert McFarland was for many years an able member of the East Tennessee bar, ranking with Reese and Mckinney. He was a born law- yer and a judge by nature. He had a logical mind, patient of investi- gation and trained by reflection rather than much reading. He was singularly free from prejudices, and if as a judge he was not famed for erudition, he fully compensated for its absence by an accurate discrimin-
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ation, sound judgment and rare practical wisdom. His opinions are not distinguished for beauty of style or wealth of illustration, but they are al- ways clear and convincing. In correctness of decision, the highest test of a supreme judge, he had no superior. He was not as learned a lawyer as Reese, nor as exact and precise as Mckinney, but in clearness of per- ception, soundness of judgment and correctness of decision he rivalled either *. He served upon the supreme bench for a period of eleven years, retiring on account of failing health in December, 1882. He died in 1884.
Thomas A. R. Nelson, one of the supreme judges elected in 1870, was a native of Roane County, Tenn. He graduated from East Tennes- see College in 1828, and was admitted to the bar before he attained his majority. He was one of the most brilliant and versatile of men and soon won his way to distinction. He figured quite prominently in poli- ties, and while in Congress delivered a speech which was published in full by the London Times, and which that paper pronounced to be "one of the finest forensic efforts of modern American lawgivers." His reasoning powers were of a very high order, his imagination uncommonly fertile, and his power of satire unexcelled. During all the years of his long life, while not engaged in politics, he was vigorously prosecuting his profes- sional labors, and in everything he undertook he was earnest, laborious and indefatigable. During his short term of service as a supreme judge he delivered a number of opinions which give evidence of his eminent ability as a jurist.
John Louis Taylor Sneed, one of the six supreme judges elected un- der the revised constitution in 1870, is a native of North Carolina. His mother died when he was quite a child and he was taken in charge and educated by his uncle, then living in Granville County, N. C., but who soon after removed to West Tennessee. There young Sneed, after re- ceiving an academic education, began the study of law with V. D. Barry. In 1843 he settled in Memphis for the practice of his profession, and two years later he was elected to the General Assembly. In 1846 and 1847 he was a captain of volunteers in the Mexican war, and served with dis- tinction until its close. In 1851 he was elected attorney-general of the Memphis Judicial District, but resigned three years later to become a candidate for the office of attorney-general of Tennessee. He was elected and held the office for five years, during which time he published the five volumes of reports known as Sneed's Reports. After his retirement from that office he became a candidate for Congress on the Whig ticket, but was defeated, the district being overwhelmingly Democratic. He then re-
*Tribute to his memory from the Supreme Court Bar of East Tennessee.
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turned to the practice of law and was so engaged when the civil war be- gan. A Union man at first, like many others, he was made a rebel "by the tramp of an invading army," and although he never held office in the Confederate Army, yet he was thoroughly identified with its interests, and devoted to its cause. On his retirement from the supreme bench in 1878 a feeling of general regret was expressed. He afterward served as judge of the court of arbitration and also of the court of referees. As a judge he was patient, courteous, discriminately just and capable. In careful consideration, scholarly composition, lucidity of argument and thorough interpretation of the law, his opinions compare favorably with any of his predecessors. He is an especally brilliant speaker, and a forcible and ready orator. Personally he is very popular, being a man of commanding presence, easy and graceful in his manners, and possess- ing rare conversational powers.
Alfred Osborne Pope Nicholson, the first chief justice under the con- stitution of 1870, was born in Williamson County, Tenn, in 1808. He received a collegiate education, graduating from the University of North Carolina in 1827. He then began the study of medicine, but soon abandoned it for the law, and was licensed to practice in 1831. The fol- lowing year he became the editor of the Western Mercury, at Columbia. From that time until the war he was too thoroughly engrossed in politics to achieve very great success at the bar, although he combined in a re- markable degree the application and acumen of the jurist and the sagacity of the politician. He was, however, too retiring in his disposition and by nature too prudent and timid to be a great leader; yet he was fre- quently elected to office, serving three terms in the lower house of the General Assembly and one term in the State Senate. In 1840 he was appointed to fill out the unexpired term of Felix Grundy in the United States Senate, and was elected to represent the State in that body for the term beginning in December, 1859. Upon the secession of the Southern States he resigned his seat, and was not again in office until elected to the bench of the supreme court. Although he was perhaps not the peer of Haywood and some others of the profession in the depth and grasp of his intellect, yet he possessed the power of concentration to a high de- gree, and had the faculty of elucidating a subject and bringing forth great results from his cool and deliberate judgment. Whether at the bar, on the bench, or in political life, he always gave his views in such plain words that the humblest hearer could understand them.
William Frierson Cooper, at one time a partner of Judge Nicholson, as a chancery lawyer, jurist and thorough literary scholar, has no supe- rior in the State. During his practice of the law he devoted himself al-
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most exclusively to the chancery department, which, with his experience of nearly seven years as chancellor, has made him the leading authority in the State in that branch of jurisprudence. His decisions while upon the bench of the chancery court have been published in three volumes, and are exceedingly valuable. His knowledge of law in other depart- ments is also thorough and extensive. With Return J. Meigs he pre- pared the present "Code of Tennessee," and afterward edited forty volumes of the "Tennessee Reports" upon their republication. He has also re- edited an edition of "Daniels' Chancery Practice," bringing down the references and annotations to the present time. January 1, 1879, he took his seat upon the bench of the supreme court, and has since discharged the duties of the office with that fidelity and ability which has character- ized him in all his official and professional relations.
Peter Turney received his knowledge of the law under the direction of his father, the late Hopkins L. Turney, and was admitted to the bar in 1848, at the age of twenty-one years. For the first two or three years he obtained few cases, but after that time he did a good practice until the beginning of the civil war. He then entered the Confederate Army as colonel of the First Confederate Tennessee Regiment, in which posi- tion and elsewhere he made a gallant record during four years' service. At the close of hostilities he resumed the practice of his profession, which he continued with success until 1870, when he took his seat upon the supreme bench. He is a man of great native ability and strong in- dividuality, is firm and positive in his opinions, and as a judge is not at all subject to the influence or domination of any other member of the court. He is perhaps not as widely read in his profession, nor in general literature, as some of his colleagues, yet his opinions are as generally accurate as those of any other judge.
James W. Deaderick, the present chief justice of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, was born in Jonesborough, Washington County, in 1812. He received a thorough education, having attended East Tennesse Col- lege and Central College at Danville, Ky. He married before complet- ing his course at the latter school, and soon after, in 1833. began mer- chandising in what is now Hamblen County. Not being very successful in that business, about 1842 he took up the study of law, and in due time was admitted to the bar of his native town. He there opened an office and continued to practice with reasonable success until the close of the civil war. In 1866 he removed to Bristol, and the following year to Knoxville, where he remained until his election to the supreme bench in 1870. Judge Deaderick, while not a learned jurist, is a man of fine practical sense, of sterling probity and of persistent energy. He is mod-
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est, even to diffidence, and his unobtrusive, kindly demeanor, united with his uniform fairness, has won for him a host of friends among the mem- bers of the bar.
Thomas J. Freeman is a native of West Tennessee, having been born in Gibson County, in 1827. His early education was limited to the country schools and the county academy, yet at the age of seventeen he had completed a course of medical reading. Not finding that profession to his liking, he turned his attention to the law, and at the age of twenty- one was admitted to the bar. He at once opened an office in Trenton, where he practiced until 1861, when he removed to Haywood County. After the close of the war he removed to Brownsville, where he contin- ued to practice his profession until his elevation to the Supreme Bench in 1870. Judge Freeman has always been a close student not only in his profession but of general literature, and is considered one of the most broadly cultured men in the State. He possesses what may be denomi- nated a metaphysical mind-reasons logically and, in general, accurately. His written opinions are usually quite long, but are clearly stated. As a lawyer he was eminently successful in practice. He was critically careful in the preparation of his cases and was a skillful and eloquent advocate and a thorough master of technical pleading.
John B. Cooke, the successor of Judge McFarland upon the supreme bench, was appointed in 1883 to fill out the unexpired term of the latter. He is a resident of Chattanooga, and is a lawyer and jurist of excellent judgment and high ability.
Morgan W. Brown, the successor of John McNairy as judge of the Federal court for the District of Tennessee, was a brother of William L. Brown, one of the judges of the supreme court. He was a man of con- siderable reading and correct literary taste, a fine miscellaneous writer, and was for some time editor of a Nashville paper. He was appointed to a seat upon the bench of the Federal court in 1834, and continued to hold that position until his death in 1853.
West H. Humphreys, the successor of Judge Brown, was born in Montgomery County, in 1805. Soon after preparing himself for the law. he located in Somerville, Fayette County, where he began his profes- sional career, and in a very short time rose to distinction. So great was his popularity that he was sent as a delegate to the Constitutional Con- vention of 1834, and the following year was elected to the General As- sembly, in which body he occupied a prominent position. In 1839 he was elected attorney-general and reporter of the supreme court, and re- elected in 1844. From the date of his appointment to be judge of the Federal court, he held the position until the opening of the war, when he
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received a commission to the same office from the Confederate Govern- ment. After the war he returned to his practice and continued until within a few years of his death which occurred in October, 1882. He was a man of large acquirements not only in his profession, but in gen- eral knowledge. He was industrious and painstaking in the preparation of his cases, and earnest and vehement in his advocacy. As a judge he was just, and exceedingly courteous to the bar and to all with whom he came in contact.
Connolly F. Trigg was appointed United States District Judge for the District of Tennessee by President Lincoln, in July, 1862. He was a native of Virginia, where he received his education and where he prac- ticed law until near middle life. He then came to Tennessee and here spent several years of useful and successful toil in his profession, before and up to the war. During that trying period. although a Southerner in his sentiments and dearest relations, he clung to the Union with un- swerving devotion, and at the close of hostilities he was the sole Federal judge in Tennessee to administer and enforce the penal laws of the United States. It was a time to test the courage and integrity of a judge to the utmost. The excitement and animosities of the war had not yet begun to subside, and the courts were filled with proscription, confisca- tion and test-oath cases. It now lay in his power to revenge himself upon his former enemies, but "Judge Trigg, with the same undaunted courage that he displayed in turning his back on secession, now calmly and serenely opposed and drove from the temple of justice the spirit of hate and revenge. Indictments for treason, libels for confiscation and test-oaths all disappeared at his rebuke, and the people resumed their wonted callings with a cheerful confidence in the ample protection of the laws of the United States." It has been truly said that the State owes to Judge Trigg a debt of gratitude greater than to any other man who has exercised judicial functions within her boundaries. He was not a great man, nor was he an accomplished jurist, but he had an abiding faith in the rudimental truths of jurisprudence. and his decisions always bear the test of right and justice.
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