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, V.3 > Part 19
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J. S. Shugart, M. D., was born in Bradley County, near his present location, June 21, 1850, and is the son of L. and Eliza (Cosby) Shugart. The father was of German descent, was born in Washington County, Va., April 12, 1801, and died in Bradley County, Tenn., May 13, 1877. He went from Virginia to Missouri about 1825 or 1826, and, after remaining there about one year, moved to Mississippi, but before this he went to Texas, and traveled over the State. He remained in Mississippi only a short time, and then came to Bradley County. Tenn., about 1828, settling on the farin on which his son, our subject, now lives. He was a doctor and a farmer. He was quite a public man. When he went to Missouri, he went as Government surveyor, and while there studied medicine. He practiced medicine in Mississippi. Before the war he was an old line Whig; he voted against secession after which he was a Democrat. He obtained his medical education at the Transylvania University. The mother was of English descent, and was born in Rhea County, Tenn .. in 1818, and died in Bradley County, June 11, 1879. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church. Our subject was the fifth of nine children. His education was secured at Blue Spring, Chatata and Cleveland. He read medicine
at Cleveland with William P. Rodefer, and then went to the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at Baltimore, Md., after which he returned and practiced medicine at Cha- tata five years, then came to this place. February 19, 1879, he married Miss Alice Cate, who was born in Chatata, May 23, 1859. She is the daughter of Jackson and Nancy (Simmons) Cate. She was educated at Chatata, and is a member of the Missionary Bap- tist Church. To this union four children were born, three of them living: Nellie M., Greshie and Delmar, and Bertie E., who was born February 1, 1882, and died July 26. 1884. Our subject is also engaged in farming, and is a member of the Cumberland Pres- byterian Church. He is a Master Mason, and a Democrat.
Isham C. Simmons, M. D., a well known and skillful practicing physician, and resi- dent of the First District, was born near bis present place of residence January 30, 1845. He is the youngest of ten children, bora to Rev. Dr. Isham and Amelia ( Neil) Simmons, both of whom were of Irish descent, and natives of Claiborne County, Teun. The father was born May 11, 1806. married December 16, 1824. and remained in his native county the fol-
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lowing eleven years. About 1835 he came to Bradley County, and settled on the farm upon which our subject now lives. He was a popular and influential minister of the Baptist Church. The last ten years of his life were given to the practice of medicine, in which he was very successful. His death occurred November 20, 1852. His wife was born November 10, 1807, she is living with her son, in her eightieth year. The subject of this sketch received a liberal education in Bradley and McMion Counties, and began life as a farmer. In 1870 he commenced the study of medicine, entering upon his practice two years later. He has received an extensive and lucrative patronage, and is considered one of the leading physicians of the county. Although not robust he has always been active and energetic. He owns 180 acres of valuable land. He is a consistent and esteemed member of the Baptist Church, and a Democrat. July 25, 1872, he married Miss Rebecca A. Julian, who was born in Bradley County April 19, 1847. Two sons and two daughters have been born to their union. Mrs. Simmons is an earnest member of the Methodist Church.
J. A. Steed, one of the leading druggists of Cleveland, is the son of J. C. and Sarah J. (Lasater) Steed. The father was born in North Carolina, and when about eight years of age (1820) was brought to McMinn County, Tenn., where he grew up and married Miss Lasater. In 1849 they moved to Bradley County, where they have since made their home. For a livelihood he followed brick-laying till sixty-two years of age, since which he has farmed. In his family were nine children, four living-three sons and one daughter. The Steeds are of Scotch-Irish descent. Our subject was born May 8, 1847, in McMinn County, and when two years of age came to Cleveland, where he grew up and was educated. On reaching manhood he took a course of medical lectures at the University of New York. Having returned and clerked in a drug store for some time he and Dr. A. D. Scruggs opened a drug store in partnership. Having sold out he opened another, and in 1885 took as a partner his brother. W. C. Steed, giving the firm title of J. A. Steed & Bro. In 1878 he married Miss Ida Johnston, a native of this county, by whom three children: May, Sadie and James C. were born. His wife is au Episcopalian. He is a director in the Cleveland Street Railway Company, and is a Democrat. He has made a handsome property by his industry.
Rev. J. A. Stubblefield, A. M., and professor of Latin and mathematics in the Cente- nary Female College, was born June 11. 1850, in Hamblen County, Tenn. He is the fourth of eight children born to Wyatt and Ada (Thompson) Stubblefield, both of whom were born in East Tennessee. The father is a successful farmer. The mother died in 1883. The grandparents of either side were Virginians. Our subject was raised on a farm. His early education was received in the Reagan High School, located at Morristown. In 1874 he entered the junior class of the Emory and Henry College, graduating in 1876. With the exception of two years he has taught school since his graduation. In 1878 he joined the Holston Conference. and preached two years in Chattanooga, Tenn. For a year previous to the opening of the Centenary Female College, he was its traveling financial agent, after which he was elected to his present position. He is a Mason. In 1884 he married Miss Marie L. Leckie, an accomplished lady of Virginia, and graduate of the Montgomery Female College, of Christiansburg. Va. She is instructress of French. history, and elocution in the Centenary Female College.
Rev. David Sullins, D. D., president of the Centenary Female College, Cleveland, Tenn., was born July 28, 1827, in MeMinn County, Tenn. He was raised at the handles of the plow, and after attending the common schools spent a year at Forest Hill Academy. In 1846 he entered the Emory and Henry College, from which he graduated in 1850. The same year he joined the Holston Conference, of which he has been a member since. In 1853 he was elected president of the Odd Fellows Female College at Jonesboro, Tenn .. continuing at the head of that institution five years. After two years of pastoral work he went to the war as chaplain of the Nineteenth Tennessee Infantry (Confederate), and the second year became chaplain of Breckinridge's division and quartermaster as well. After the war he held the position of president of the Wytheville Female College in Vir- ginia for three years, and then came to Bristol, Tenn., where he founded Sullins' College.
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at the head of which he remained till 1880, when he was elected president of his almo mater. Through the influence of friends and unforgotten associates he was induced to come to Cleveland in 1885 to build up the Centenary Female College. How well he has done his work may be inferred from the fact that two large buildings, put up at a cost of about $40,000, are not sufficient to accommodate all who would attend. While at Bristol he had conferred upon him the degree of D. D. by both Hiwassee and Emory and Henry Colleges. In 1855 he married Miss Ann, daughter of Hon. John Blair, by whom he bas four children-two sons and two daughters-all of whom are graduates of schools of high merit, and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Our subject's par- ents were Nathan Sullins, who was born in Virginia and when young came to Tennes- sec, and Rebecca, daughter of Rev. Maurice Mitchell, one of the pioncer Methodist Epis- copal preachers of East Tennessee. The parents were married near Knoxville, and soon after settled in MeMinn County, where they spent their lives on a farm. The father was, for his day, an extensive farmer and stock raiser, and both were pious Christians of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.
Joseph R. Taylor, a retired contractor and builder of Cleveland, was born in McMinn County, November 19, 1832. He is a son of Larkin C. and Martha (Read) Taylor. The father was born in Burke County, N. C. During the war of 1812 he led out a company, but did not reach the field of action until after peace was declared. When a young man he came to McMinn County, where he married a native of that county. In 1937 he moved to Bradley County. He was a magistrate many years, and by trade a blacksmith. He made the first knives and forks used in his family after marriage. His death occurred in 1847. Of his six children, two sons and two daughters are living. Mrs. Taylor married Jaret Bell, with whom she had one child. Mr. Bell died, and his widow is still living, at the age of eighty. Our subject was the second child. A portion of his early life was passed on a farm, receiving a common education. After he was grown he worked nights, mora- ings and Saturdays for his board, and attended school. After two years of apprenticeship at making and laying brick, he began contracting and building, in which business he was engagedabout thirty-four years. The schoolhouse and a number of the best residences of Cleveland were built by him. In 186? he volunteered as private in Company A, Sixty- second Tennessee Infantry, Confederate Army. In the spring of 1862 he was promoted to second lieutenant. In 1864 he was captured at the siege of Vicksburg, and held at Camp Chase, Ohio, a year. At the close of the war he was released in Virginia, and made the journey of 500 miles, afoot. He is a true Democrat and highly esteemed citizen. In 1856 he married Miss Caladonia Straley, a native of North Carolina, a member of the Southern Methodist Church and mother of seven children, of whom five sons and one daughter are living. Mrs. Taylor's father was Rev. Jacob L. Straley. He was born in Virginia, and came to Tennessee about 1850. He was a Southern Methodist divine, one of the first who preached to the Indians. His wife, Eliza (Burgin) Straley, is a native of North Carolina and is seventy five years old.
J. N. Taylor, of the firm of Taylor & Paul, dealers in dry goods, boots. shoes, staple groceries, etc., of Cleveland, was born in McMinn County, April 25, 1851. He is the only son of George and Margaret (Hughes) Taylor, both natives of East Tennessee. Soon after marriage they settled in Polk County. In 1853 the father went to California to dig gold; the war came on and kept him from home fifteen years. Soon after his return be died at the age of fifty-six. The mother lived to her sixty-sixth year; she had six children. of whom one son and two daughters survive. Our subject was raised on the farm, and educated at the common schools. At the age of twenty-two he became a salesman. Some two years later, with the assistance of friends. he established a store at Benton, Polk County. In 1885 he moved to Cleveland, where, in partnership with his brother- in-law. J. A. Paul, he opened a store. They have a good stock of goods, and receive a liberal patronage. Our subject is a Missionary Baptist, and a Democrat. In 1881 he married Miss Mary E. Fetzer, of Polk County, by whom he has two children: Lena and Earnest. Mrs. Taylor is a Southern Methodist.
Jonathan Caswell Tipton, was born at Clover Hill, Blount Co., Tenn., December
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13, 1816. He is a son of Col. Jonathan and Lavina (Williams) Tipton, who were raised in Carter County, and after marriage moved to Blount County, then afterward to a farm on the Little Tennessee River in Monroe County. When J. C. was six years of age Col. Jonathan, father of J. C., had been elected by the people of Carter and surrounding counties colonel of a light horse regiment, and was afterward elected by the voters of Blount and Monroe Counties to the Legislature of the State, in which capacity hc served for twenty-one years. The history of Col. Jolin Tipton, his father, and grand- father of J. C., of upper East Tennessee, is found in " Haywood's History of North Caro- lina," "Life as it is," by Brazeale, and " Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee " in which an account is given of his war with Gov. Sevierin the early history of East Tennessee. The subject of this sketch received a common education, such as was afforded by the free schools of that day. A part of the time walking four miles morning and evening. At the age of sixteen he clerked in a dry goods store, and returned to the farm the next year. Aspiring to military honors he was elected to several minor offices in the service. At cighteen he made a trip on horseback 400 miles to the western district of Tennessee, crossing the mountains, and traveling through deep snow about half the distance, stopping with his brother, Gen. E. W. Tipton, of Fayette County, who was general surveyor of the Eleventh District, and gave J. C. a deputation. He spent the summer surveying in that country, sometimes having to swim his horse through lagoons and deep waters, con- tracting chills and fever; he returned in October to his home iu East Tennessee. The next year was spent in trying to reclaim his health, about that time his eldest brother, John B. Tipton, was elected general surveyor of Ocoee District by the Legislature and appointed J. C. deputy surveyor, who, in March, 1837, repaired to his field of labor. Completing his work in four months, he returned home, and assisted in making out the maps of the different surveys of said district. In that year he cast his first vote. which was for Hugh L. White for President, and Newton Cannon for governor, returned that fall to Bradley County to live, was soon elected county surveyor by the county court, and re-elected for the second term. About this time a vacancy occurred for colonel in his regiment. to which office he was elected. He made a canvass for repre- sentatives from Bradley County in 1847, and was defeated by a majority of 120 votes, his competitor having the advantage of 500 in the politics of said county. Being a can- didate again in 1849. Tipton was elected by seventy-nine votes majority, and served the term of 1849-50 in the State Legislature. In 1850 he was married to Elizabeth Shearon. daughter of T. W. Shearon, Esq., of Davidson County, who was elected to fill out the term of John Bell. as representative in 1847-48, Mr. Bell being elected to the United States Senate. After marriage the said J. C. and Elizabeth, located in Morganton, Blount County, where he was in the mercantile business for three years, and then moved to a farm in Bradley County, four miles cast of Cleveland. He remained upon the farm until the latter part of the late war. He was a Union man, and devoted to the cause of the Union during said war, but was not in the army on account of protracted ill health. During the time, his grain and all other food having been taken by soldiers. and his house burned, he moved to Cleveland. Upon the reorganization of the State he was elected clerk of the circuit court of Bradley County, and continued for three consecu- tive terms, then in the decline of years and health, he accepted the office of magistrate in the Cleveland District, was appointed United States commissioner, and elected mayor of the city for three consecutive terms. and afterward city recorder. He was appointed census taker by Gov. Hawkins in 1881. He has served upon the United States grand jury two terms, was appointed foreman of the jury during the last term of his service, and has served five years as chairman of the county board. He is now seventy years old, and has had eight children born to him by the said Elizabeth to wit: William Shearon, who has been twelve years in the postoffice, and fifteen years editor of the Cleveland Herald; Edmund Caswell, thirty-two years, has served four years in the United States mail service. between Cleveland, Tenn .. and Selma. Ala., and is now a merchant of Cleveland: Ida L. (now Hayes), twenty-nine years: Mary Lucretia (now Johnston), twenty-seven years; Samuel Horace, aged twenty-five, printer and local editor; Jonathan Sterling, died at the
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age of seven months; Adelia Tennessee, aged twenty-one, and Catharine Elizabeth. aged eighteen years. All are residents of Cleveland, Tenn. The following correction of history was prepared by our subject:
In justice to the memory of Col. John Tipton and his descendants, I think it proper to make a statement of facts, as given to me by my father, Jonathan Tipton, one of the youngest sons of Col. John, in his life time, in regard to the war between his father and Gov. John Sevier, in the early history of East Tennessee, and ask that you give this statement an insertion in your book, to wit: That two errors were made by Haywood in his history of North Carolina after this war that have been copied into "Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee," and other histories: Firstly. That Tipton captured Sevier's mer. including three of the latter's sons, and was about to put them to death, but learning that Sevier had three of his sons prisoners, he relented, with tears in his eyes, and proposed an exchange of prisoners. Secondly. It is stated that Sevier was taken to North Carolina for trial, and being taken to the courthouse at night, a horse was in waiting. upon which the Governor made his escape. My father, who was about twelve years old at that time, stated to me in his lifetime that Col. John, his father, had always during his life, when talking upon that subject, said that when he captured Sevier's men, including his three sons, that two brothers by the name of Webb, whose brother had been killed by Sevier's men, did want to kill the young Seviers; but he told the Webbs they were his prisoners. entitled to his protection; that such an act would be cowardly, and could not be permitted by him under any circumstances, and that Sevier did not have Tipton's sons or any one of them a prisoner at any time during the war. As to the second error, his father said that he started Gov. Sevier to North Carolina for trial under a guard of two men, and that Sevier csenped in the mountains on the way, and did not get to the courthouse as stated in his- tory, which appears to have been written in the interest of Gov. Sevier, and no corrections having been made, has. of course. been accepted as fact, to the prejudice of Col. John Tipton and his descendants, and should have been long since corrected. But the general character of both Tipton and Sevier having been that of honorable, brave and magnani- mous men, haste has not been deemed necessary, and now because of my advanced age. and being the next youngest of the only three grandsons living of the said Col. John Tipton, and that justice may be done to his memory, I deem it important to make this correction. J. C. TIPTON.
William Sharon Tipton, a prominent citizen of Cleveland, was born at Morganton. Monroe (now Loudon) Co., Tenn., September 12, 1851. A few years later he moved to Bradley County, four miles cast of Cleveland in the Little Chatata Valley. His educa . tion was received in the county schools. He was deputy circuit court clerk six years, and deputy postmaster eight years, under A. E. Blunt, P. M., during President Grant's administration. In June, 1870, he organized the Republican party, and for seventeen years has served as the chairman of the county committee, always attending the State. county. and congressional conventions. January 1, 1872, he was elected city recorder. and served four terms. September 17. 1874, he founded the Cleveland Herald, which was enlarged to thirty-sis columns, January 1, 1886, under a $6.000 stock company. The paper has a circulation of 2,000. In 1880 he was a member of the Chicago convention which nominated Garfield and Arthur. He was one of the 306 men who continued to vote for Grant. He now has one of the Grant medals, sent him by Senator Don Cam- eron, of Pennsylvania. March 25, 1881, he was appointed postmaster at Cleveland. by President Garfield. He served one term as alderman for the Second Ward, and was chairman of the street committee. September 15, 1881, he married Miss Lizzie, daugh- ter of Dr. G. C. Sandusky. of Shelbyville, Tenn. A daughter. Cecil Sharon, was born to this union, December 2, 1883, and a son, William Sandusky, born April 13. 1987: their eldest, Nellie, having died when an infant.
E. C. Tipton, junior member of the firm of Hawk & Tiptou. Cleveland, and son of Col. J. C. Tipton, was born in Cleveland, November 11. 1854. His education was confined to the schools of Cleveland. In 1874 he began in the newspaper business as a compositor. and afterward became one of the proprietors of the Clerdand Herald. Having taken a
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commercial course at Chattanooga, he kept books for a firm in Knoxville. For nearly five years he was railway postal clerk between Cleveland and Selma, Ala. In 1866 he joined Mr. Hawk in business as shown elsewhere. Politically he is a Republican.
Arthur Traynor, attorney of Cleveland, is the son of John D. Traynor, who was born in Ireland, and when fourteen years old came to America, and was educated at Knox. ville. After selling goods a time in Washington, Tenn., he came to Bradley County in 1838, and settled where Cleveland now is. While in Rhea County he married Miss Mary A. Cozby, daughter of John Cozby, the eldest son of the man who rescued Sevier. In their family were five children, four living, three sons and one daughter. The father died in 1852, being forty-eight years old. The mother died in 1881, being seventy years old. Mr Traynor inherits English blood on his mother's side. The father was very successful; starting with $300 he made an estate of some $75,000. Their youngest son. our subject, was born in Cleveland. November 3, 1849. He was educated at the Masonic Insti- tute of Calhoun County, and at Emory and Henry College, graduating in 1872. Two years later he began studying law under P. B. Mayfield, and was admitted to the bar in 1876. He has been practicing at Cleveland since. In 1872 be married Mary G. Rabe, a native of Greeneville, Tenn. By her he has two children: Chassic and Louise. Both Mr. and Mrs. Traynor are Methodists. In politics he is a Democrat, as have been all his ancestors one hundred years back. He is a member of the K. of H. For eleven years he has been in the practice of his profession, and is one of the leading members of the bar in East Tennessee.
W. D. Traynor, dealer in books and stationery, and real estate agent, is the son of John D. and Mary A. (Cozby) Traynor, and was born in Cleveland, Tenn., September 3, 1845. He was educated at the common schools, and at the age of twenty years began business as a salesman in a store. Having worked in a dry goods house, subsequently in a drug house some time, he turned his attention to farming. In 1883 he went to Chatta- nooga to engage in the coal trade, but soon returned and embarked in his present business. In 1876 he married Miss Sallie Vance, of Newman, Ga., by whom he has three sons: French V., John D. and "the baby." His wife belongs to the Episcopal Church. He is a Democrat, a member of A. I. of H., and an energetic and successful business man.
William Trewhitt was born in Cleveland, Tenn., April 3, 1838, and is the son of Levy and Harriet (Lavendar) Trewhitt. The father was boru near Raleigh, N. C., July 14, 1797, and died January 31, 1862, while in a rebel prison. He went from North Carolina to Morgan County, Tenn., at an early date and to Bradley County, Tenn., in 1836. He was a very prominent and successful lawyer. He accumulated a large amount of prop- erty before the war, but a great part of it was destroyed during that period. He secured his education by his own exertions, and by the light of a pine knot after the day's work was done. He was a Mason and a Whig. The mother was born in Morgan County, Tenn., May 3, 1803, and died January 9, 1855. Our subject was the twelfth of seventeen children. He secured his education at the home schools. The father had in the mean - time moved to one of his farms in the Fifth District, when our subject was quite young. October 16, 1860, our subject married Myra L. Upton, who was born in Charleston, Brad- ley Co., Tenn., August 27, 1843, and died February 19, 1886. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but after her marriage joined the Baptist Church. She was the daughter of N. B. and Mary Upton. Our subject's marriage resulted in the birth of seven children, six of them now living: L. B., Hattie J., Minnie J., Edna E., Maud and Nina. Gracie died shortly after birth. Our subject when married moved to one of his father's farms, but after two years moved to his present location, which was given to him by his father, but since that time he has bought more and improved all. In 1876 he was elected justice of the peace, and re-elected in 1882. During the war he was detailed by the Confederate government, and worked in the rolling mills and flour-mills at Cleveland. He is a member of the Baptist Church, and a Democrat.
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