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 42
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Hon. William Cullom was born in Kentucky, June 4, 1810, and is the son of William and Elizabeth (Northcroft) Cullom. The father was a native of Maryland, and immigrated to Kentucky at an early day. He was a farmer, and died in 1838; the mother was also born in Maryland and died during the late war. Our subject was reared near Monticello, Ky., and acquired his early education in the schools of that place. During the holidays of 1830 he removed to Tennessee, and settled in Overton County, where he read law with an elder brother. He next attended the law department of the Transylvania University at Lexington, Ky., for two years, and was then admitted to the bar, on June 4, 1834, being licensed by Judges Caruthers and Reese. He located at Gainesboro, Jackson County, where he practiced law until 1839, and then removed to Middle Tennessee. His success at the bar of Carthage was unusual and rapid. He was elected attorney general by the Legislature of 1834-35, and held the office for six years. In 1843 he was elected State senator, and re-elected in 1845. He was elected as a Whig in 1851 to represent the Nashville District in Congress, and re-elected in 1853, and defeated two years later by only seventy-two votes out of a poll of 15,000. Upon his defeat he was solicited by members of Congress to make the race for clerk of the House of Representatives and con- senting was elected and served two years. Gov. Brown next appointed him attorney gen- eral for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Tennessee, and at the following regular election was chosen as such by the people. After serving three years of his term he resigned: and later on was appointed by Gov. Porter, judge of the circuit. The same year he was nominated for Congress, leading a forlorn hope; he was of course defeated, but received about 3,000 more votes than had ever been cast for a candidate of his party for that dis- trict. He removed to Clinton where he resided for a while, and then removed one mile
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distant from that town, where he now resides, quietly following agricultural pursuits. He was a presidential elector on the Taylor ticket, and is the only surviving one of the Tennessee electors. He was married in 1867 to Mary Griffin, and to them eight children have been born.
William Dail is one of the most prominent citizens of Anderson County, Tenn., and one of the leading farmers of the Twelfth Civil District. He was born in the above county October 29, 1822, and is the son of William and Nancy (Overton) Dail. The father was born in North Carolina, January 3, 1795, and was the son of William Dail, who was a native of England. The father of our subject came to Tennessee in 1815, and located in Anderson County where he followed farming. He served in the war of 1812, and was & pensioner up to his death; he died August 17, 1877. The mother was a native of Virginia, and was born January 2, 1792, and was the daughter of Joseph Overton, a native of Vir- ginia; she died March 30. 1860. Both parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church; the father was a class leader for a number of years, and was stricken with paralysis in church, near the pulpit, from which he died a few days later. Our subject was reared on the farm, and attended the old field schools of the neighborhood. He worked on the farm with his parents until his twenty-first birthday, and then began life for himself, earning his first money by working at $6 per month. He was elected and served as constable early in life forla number of years, and in 1856 he was elected to the office of county trustee, which he held for four years. In 1861 he was elected tax collector by the county court, which he held for five years. In 1868 he was elected justice of the peace. and holds the office at the present, having served for nineteen years as such continually, January 3, 1887, he was elected chairman of the county court. He was married Angust 5, 1861, to Mary B. Farmer, who was born in Anderson County, February 27, 18-16, , and was the daughter of Nathan A. Farmer. To this union six children were born as follows: Matilda H., born May 22, 1862; Henry G., born April 30, 1864; Mary E., born February 11, 1866: Martha F., born June 8, 1868; Rufus M., born October 27, 1870, and Lizzie O., born February 25, 1873. The mother died September 17, 1873; she was a member of the Methodist Church. Our subject is, and; has been since his nineteenth year, a member of the Methodist Church.
R. M. Edwards, merchant and druggist, Coal Creek, Tenn., was born in Anderson County, Tenn., December 7, 1851, the son of E. C. and N. S. (Ross) Edwards, natives of Tennessee. Our subject was reared on a farm and attended the district schools, and has, up to 1883, always followed agricultural pursuits. For a short time he was in the hotel business at Coal Creek, but sold out and began the drug business, and soon added a stock of groceries and general merchandise, in which he has been successful. In 1879 he mar- ried Carrie Huffaker, of Claiborne County. Their children are Melvel Huffaker, Lillie Bell and Lizzie Lee.
Henry P. Farmer was born in Anderson County, Tenn., July 20, 1844, and is the son of Nathan A. and Filena J. (Hoskins) Farmer. The father was born in Anderson County, in Dutch Valley, April 11, 1803, and was the son of Henry Farmer, a native of Halifax County, Va. He was one of the first settlers of Anderson County, he clearing a farm in Dutch Valley at a time when there were but few white men in the county, and Indians were numerous. The father was a farmer, and died February 14, 1879. The mother was born in Anderson County, December 28, 1823, andjis the daughter?of Jesse Hoskins. She now lives on the adjoining farm to her son. The father was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the mother of the Baptist. Our subject was reared on the farm. and acquired his education in the neighboring schools and at Clinton. He worked on the farm until May 28, 1863, when he enlisted in Company C, of the Eleventh Federal Regiment of Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry, and in Company I, of the Ninth Regi- ment, after the consolidation of the Eleventh and Ninth Regimeuts. He entered as pri- vate, but was promoted to first corporal. then first sergeant and then first lieutenant. He was captured at Wyman Mill,, Lee County, Va., February 22. 1864, and was imprisoned at Belle Isle. After a month's confinement he was paroled March 22, 1564, and sent to. City Point, and thence to Annapolis, Md., then to Camp Chase, Ohio, then to Nashville.
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and in June of the same year rejoined his command at Cumberland Gap. He was mustered out of service at Knoxville September 11, 1965, and returned to the farm. and has since followed farming. In 1979 he was commissioned postmaster of Dutch Valley Postoffice, and holds that position at present. He was married December 25. 1866, [to Susan Dossett. who was born in Campbell County, Tenn., October 24, 1842, and is the daughter of Robert Dossett. To this union ten children have been born, as follows: Joseph H., born November 16, 1867, died October 6, 1870; Grattz W., born February 25, 1869; Franklin J., born September 24, 1870, died February 5, 1871; John H., born February 1, 1872; Mary J. E., born January 28, 1874; Robert A., born January 16, 1876; Martha P., born October 30, 1878; Nettie K .. born January 2, 1981; Anna B., born May 27, 1883, and an infant born August 16, 1885, and died unnamed. Our subject and wife are members of Sulpher Spring Methodist Church South.
J. A. Fowler, the subject of this sketch, is one of the leading young members of the Anderson County bar, and prominent citizens of Clinton, Tenn. He was born in Knox County, Tenn., February 22, 1863, and is the son of J. W. and Mary (Connor) Fowler, both natives of Knox County. The father was born in 1817, and is a farmer of Knox County. The mother was born in 1822. Both parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Our subject was reared on the farm, and acquired his early education in the neighboring school. He later attended school at Athens, Tenn., and graduated from the East Tennessee Wesleyan University (now the Grant Memorial University) in May, 1884. He taught for a year in the university, and then removed to Clinton and conducted the high school for a year. Having studied law while teaching, he was licensed to practice at Athens in December, 1835, by Judges Trewhitt and Rodgers. He began practicing his profession at Clinton, in 1886, and is now one of the rising young lawyers of that bar. He was married May 28, 1885, to Lucy E. Hornsby, who was born in Athens, Tenn., May 2, 1807, and is the daughter of J. H. Hornsby, of that place. To this union one child has been born. Both our subject and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
J. N. Freels is one of the prominent citizens of the Ninth Civil District of Anderson County, Teun., and is a merchant of Scarboroughtown. He was born June 1, 1840, in Ander- son County, and is the son of William S. and Maria (Tunnel) ; Freels, both natives of Anderson County. The father was born in 1800, and was the son of Isaac Freels. He was a farmer, and died in March, 1886. The mother was born in 1809, and was the daughter of Jesse Tunnel. She died in 1851. Our subject was reared on the farm, and attended the schools of the neighborhood. He worked on the farm until the breaking out of the late war, and February 14, 1862, enlisted in the Federal Army, and was placed in the quartermaster's department as clerk. July 7. 1863, he was appointed second lieutenant of Company H, of the Thirteenth Regiment of Tennessee, the appointment coming from Gov. Johnson. In June. 1865, he was promoted first lieutenant of Company H. and as such served the rest of the war, and was mustered out of the service at Knoxville September 9, 1865. After the war he returned home and farmed until 1877, then began merchandising at Scarboroughtown. He was commissioned postmaster of that town, in 1876, and holds the office at present. He was married in July. 1870, to Julia A. Hoskins, who was born in 1849, and is the daughter of George P. Hoskins, of Anderson County. To this union seven children have been born. Our subject's wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.
W. W. Hays is a native of Walker County, Ga., where he was born April 1, 1851 and is the son of William J. and Harriet (King) Hays. The father was born in Campbell County, Tenn., in 1821, and is the son of Batson Hays, a native of Virginia. He has fol- lowed farming all his life, but is now a citizen of Clinton. The mother was born in the same county December 25, 1824, and is the daughter of W. King. a native of Tennes- see. She is a member of the Baptist Church. Our subject was reared on the farm in the vicinity of Coal Creek in Anderson County, and attended the home schools. By studying at home he fitted himself to become a teacher, which occupation he entered when he became eighteen, and during his vacation farmed, and succeeded in both. In September.
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1879, he was appointed postmaster at Coal Creek, which position he held for seven years, and in August, 1886, was elected trustee of Anderson County, which position he is now filling with credit to himself and to the county. He is a member of Coal Creek Lodge, No. 492, F. & A. M., of which he has served as Senior Warden, and was appointed to represent the lodge in the grand lodge, but did not serve. He was married March 30. 1887, to Amanda Bowling, of Coal Creek, Tenn., who was born in September, 1843, and is the daughter of Joel Bowling. She is a member of the Baptist Church.
William R. Hicks, the subject of this sketch, is judge of the Second Judicial Circuit of Tennessee, and is one of the leading lawyers of Anderson County. He was born in Knox County, Tenn., December 16, 1812, and is the son of John II. and Elizabeth (Dail) Hicks. The father is a native of Tennessee, and was born in 1820. He is the son of Richard N. Hicks, who settled in the Sequatchie Valley at an early date. When a boy, our subject's father removed to Anderson County, and then to Knox, and later returned to Anderson County, where he has since resided, and followed farming. He was elected county trustee, in November, 1872, and held that office for fourteen years in succession. The mother was born in Anderson County, in 1817, and is the daughter of William Dail, a native of North Carolina. Our subject was reared on the farm, and attended the neigh- borhood schools. August 7, 1861, he enlisted in Company C, of the Second Federal Regi-
ment Tennessee Infantry. He was captured at Rodgerville, Tenn., November 6, 1863. and confined in Confederate prisons, at Belle Isle, Libby and Andersonville, and Sep. tember 9, 1864, was removed to Charleston, S. C., and finally discharged in the following December. While en route to Charleston he made his escape from the cars at Augusta, Ga., but, after walking sixty miles, was picked up by Confederate patrols and carried to prison again. He was mustered out of service, at Knoxville, in February, 1865, and returned to his home in Anderson County. For a year following the war he farmed, and then decided to improve his education, and entered school at Bushy Fork. For a year he attended school at different places, and then began teaching. On March 19, 1868 (his wedding day), he borrowed a copy of Blackstone, and began to read law. He was admitted to the bar, in 1872, and at once began practicing in Clinton, and continued until August, 1886, when he was elected judge of the Second Judicial Circuit. He was married March 19, 1868, to Mary L. Duncan, who was born June 6, 1846, daughter of Alfred Dun- can, of Anderson County. To this union eight children have been born, four of whom are dead. Our subject and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. On March 3, 1881, Judge Hicks met with a railroad accident, near Clinton, by which he lost his right arm.
Elijah Jennings was born in Anderson County, November 18, 1825, and is the son of Jesse and Nancy (Pearson) Jennings. The father was a native of Anderson County, and was a farmer. He was the son of Daniel Jennings, a native of England, who immigrated to Virginia, and from that State came to Tennessee, being one of the pioneers of Ander- son County. The mother was born in Blount Connty, Tenn., and died in about 1850. Our subject was reared on the farm, and attended the schools of the neighborhood. He has followed farming as a vocation, making a success of the same, and now owns a good farm of over 300 acres. He served in the war of the United States with Mexico, volunteering under the second call for volunteers, and joined Company C, Capt. Kirkpat. rick, of Col. Heiskell's regiment of Kentucky Infantry. He served through the war. and was discharged from the ranks and sent to the hospital at New Orleans, a few weeks prior to the close of the war. After the war he returned home and resumed farming, which he continued until the fall of 1862, when he enlisted in the Confederate Army, joining the body-guard of Maj .- Gen. McCowan. He served until the spring of 1863, when he was discharged for disabilities, and sent to the hospital. After the war he returned home, and has been engaged in farming up to the present time. He was married in 1847 to Mary Wilson, nec Galbraith, who died about 1865. He was married, the second time, in 1866, to Nancy Peoples, of Sullivan County, Tenn., who was born about 1844. To this union two children were born, one of whom is living. The wife died in 1869, and our subject was again married, in August, 1814, to Emaline Arnold, who, was born in Haw
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kins County, Tenn., in 1846. To this union seven children have been born, six of whom are living. Our subject is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and his wife of the Methodist.
Noble Johnson, a leading farmer of the Twelfth District, was born in Anderson County, October 15, 1829. He is the son of C. S. and Jane (Lynort) Johnson. The father was born in Knox County, December 3, 1797, and was the son of Kinzie Johnson, who settled on the farm where our subject now resides, before a treaty was made with the Indians. Our subject's father died April 16, 1881. The mother was born in Pennsyl- vania September 15, 1799, and died March 22, 1850. The parents were married in 1814. Both were members of the Baptist Church. Our subject was reared on the farm, and attended the schools of the neighborhood and of Clinton. He followed farming until the outbreak of the war, and in 1862 enlisted in Company K, Capt. Butler, of Thomas' Legion of Indians and Highlanders, of the Confederate Army. He went West at the close of the war, and followed blacksmithing about six years, and then returned to Anderson County. He is now living in a house crected in 1797. He was married October 19, 1854, to Nancy M. A. Peak, who was born January 19, 1833, and died March 18, 1864. Three of their six children are living. October 3, 1870, he married Francis B. Morris, who was born July 4, 1854, and died August 30, 1886. Of nine children eight are living. Our sub- ject is a member of the Baptist Church,
W. W. Keebler, our subject, was born in Anderson County, Tenn., July 13, 1849. Hc is the son of Samuel and Rosa (Johnson-relative of Andrew Johnson) Keebler. The father was born in Pennsylvania, and of German parentage, The mother was born in Tennessee, of English and German parentage. Our subject was reared on the farm, and received his primary education in the log school house of early times. When fifteen years of age he entered school at Clinton, Tenn., and attended two years, and then taught his first school. Later he attended school at the Flint Springs Academy, Bradley County, and later the schools at Boon Creek Seminary, in Washington County, Tenn., and still later the schools at Cleveland. At this last named place he took up the study of law. In 1876 he finished his law study, and was licensed to practice. He entered the political arena in this year, and "stumped " Washington and Sullivan Counties for Tilden and Hendricks. He began his legal practice at Jonesboro, and later located at Clinton, and thence removed to Oliver Springs, his present location. Here he still practices law, merchan- dises and keeps hotel. He is proprietor of the Central Hotel, the headquarters for commercial men. On November 8, 1816, he was united in marriage with Miss Julia Crouch, daughter of Landen C. Crouch, of Washington County. Two sons (Hawes Au- gustus and Alga Zenith) and one daughter (Glennie) have blessed the marriage. Our sub- ject commenced business without capital, and is a successful business man. Hewas the Greenback candidate for joint representative for Knox and Anderson Counties, in 1886, and as such candidate he was endorsed by the Democratic party. He is a Democrat.
W. A. Kirkpatrick, a farmer of the Fifth District, was born in Anderson County March 19, 1836, the son of Robert S. and Sarah R. (King) Kirkpatrick. The father was a native of Virginia, and with his parents settled in Tennessee, when but a child, locat- ing above Clinton on the Clinch River, where the land on which he settled was bought of Gen. Andrew Jackson. He came from Stanton, Va., in 1792. He had been a soldier in the war of 1812. The grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. The mother was born in Sullivan County, Tenn., the daughter of Walter King, one of Wash- ington's body-guards at the surrender of Cornwallis, at which event a pair of the latter general's silver candlesticks became the possession of Mr. King, and now of our subject. Mr. Kirkpatrick received a common-school education in the course of his home life on the farm, and when he was eighteen he began his management of the old farm, where he and his sister lived together until recently. Our subject, in February, 1887, married Anna M., a daughter of Nicholas White, of Knox County. Mr. Kirkpatrick was acting justice for ten years, and is a Republican.
G. B. R. Lea, a leading farmer of the Fourth District, was born in Cocke County, Tenn., October 23, 1830, the son of Eppa and Mary (Rodgers) Les. The father was born
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in Caswell County, N. C., April 11, 1793, and was the son of Herndon Lea, also a native of North Carolina. The father settled in Jefferson County, Tenn., in 1806, and in 1839 moved to Anderson County. He died October 5, 1885. The mother was born in Jefferson County, Tenn., the daughter of George Rodgers, who was of Irish birth. She died June 11, 1836. Both were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Our subject was reared in Anderson County, and attended the neighboring schools, finishing his edu- cation at Union Academy, Clinton. He followed farming until November 4, 1862, when he enlisted in the Federal Army, Company L, Capt. James Morris, Second Regi- ment Tennessee Cavalry. He served until the close, and was mustered out at Nashville July 16, 1865. Hle then returned to the farm. He now owns a fine farm of 150 acres on the river in the Fourth District. December 26, 1867, he married Darcus Miller, who was born in Washington County, Va., in 1839, and died June 22, 1868. Oct. 13, 1870, he married Fannie Tunnell, who was born in Anderson County, March 11, 1840, the daugh- ter of John Cox. One of their five children is deceased; the others are Mary E., born May 28, 1873; Charles R., May 11, 1875: Eppa, April 2, 1877; and John M., February 22, 1880. Our subject is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is postmaster at Clinch River Postoffice, and is one of the progressive men of his district, esteemed by those who know him.
J. E. Longmire was born in Anderson County November 14, 1838, and is the son of Reuben M. and Elizabeth (Wallace) Longmire. The father was a native of Campbel County, Tenn., and was born February 19, 1817, and was the son of, Elijah Longmire. a native of North Carolina. He removed to Anderson County when a young man, and followed farming. He served as register of the county, and died September 9, 1857. The mother was born in Anderson County April 17, 1819, and is the daughter of David Wal- lace, a Tennesseean by birth. Our subject was reared on the farm, and attended Union Academy, at Clinton. December 1, 1861, he left home, going to Indiana, where he visited an uncle for a while, and then went West, where for twenty-one years he worked in the gold and silver mines in Colorado, Montana, Idaho, British Columbia, Washington Ter- ritory, Oregon, Utah, Nevada and California. His life in the mines was varied, full of hardships and adventures, and it was with a feeling of rest and content that he returned from California in February, 1884, and settled down to the quiet and domestic life of a farmer on his beautiful river farm, two miles from Clinton. He was married October 1, 1884, to Martha Moore, who was born October 28, 1845, and is the daughter of Samuel Moore. To this union one child, James Moss, was born July 24, 1885. The wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Elijah Longmire, farmer, was born in Anderson County, Tenn., March 22, 1845, the son of Henderson and Sciota (Hibbs) Longmire, natives of Tennessee, the former of Irish stock and the latter of Dutch parentage. Farm life and the country school were the lot of our subject's youth, and when twenty-one he began for himself with no capital, and is now one of the ablest farmers in the Second District. In 1866 he married Mary E., a daughter of Johu and Rosana (Lamar) Wallace. She was born December 2, 1848. Their children were Altavena, Martha (deceased), Charles, Franklin, Flora, Wayne, Lulu and Maud. The mother of these children belongs to the Baptist Church, and their father has, as one great object, their education, being a man much interested in religious and educational improvement. He is a follower of the Democratic banner. He owns a well improved farm of 200 acres, and his life work is a fair example of what perseverance can do.
Dolph Lowe was born at Concord, Knox Co., Tenn., October 15, 1846, and is the son of Isaac L. and Malinda (Matlock) Lowe. The father was born at Lowe's Ferry, Knox County, in 1807, and is the son of Virginia parents, his father being one of the first set- tlers of East Tennessee who settled on Holston river and established one of the first ferries and taverns, it being a stopping place for stages between Kingston and Maryville. The father is now one of the oldest farmers of Anderson County. The mother was born in Roane County, Tenn., about 1814. Both parents are members of the Cumberland Presby- terian Church, the father being one of the charter members of the first church of that de nomination organized in Knox County or East Tennessee. Our subject was reared on the
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farm in Knox and Anderson Counties, and acquired his education at Ewing and Jefferson College, in Blount County. He began life when about eighteen years of age, farming and teaching school. In connection with other business, he has followed farming as a voca tion. He has served as school commissioner for three years, and is now holding the office of Justice of the peace, to which he was elected in 1887. He was married January 30, 1867, to Sabra L. Cross, who was born in Anderson County in 1849, and is the daughter of Col. William Cross, of that county. To this union six children have been born, as follows: William C .; born in 1870, Joseph II .. born in 1812; Mary M., born in 18:5; Samuel C., born in 1877; Earnest, born in 1878; and Jennie C., born in 1880.
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