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 51
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J. O. Bettis, senior member of the livery firm of J. O. Bettis & Co., of Mossy Creek. was born in Jefferson County, Tenn., May 11, 1845, and is the son of John W. and Mary (Lyle) Bettis. The father was born in Jefferson (now Hamblen) County, Tenn., and was the son of David Bettis, who was born of Irish parents. The father was a farmer and mechanic, and was most successful in business pursuits, beginning life very poor and working up to a good competency. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and was a man generally esteemed and respected. The mother was a Miss Lyle, who was born in North Carolina, of Italian parents. She was a pious, Christian lady, and a member of the Pres- byterian Church. Our subject was reared on the farm, and acquired a practical educa- tion in the district schools. He worked on the farm until the breaking out of the late war, and September 11, 1863, enlisted in Company D, of the Ninth United States Regiment of Tennessee Cavalry, of which he was corporal. He served two years, and on September 13, 1865, was mustered out at Knoxville. He was wounded in the right hip joint while on picket duty near Cobb's Ford, in Hawkins County, Tenn. After the war he returned home and resumed farming, which he continued as far as able, by reason of his wound. and has made a success, and now owns and cultivates a fine farm of about 750 acres in the Ninth District. March ; 1, 1SS7. he engaged in the livery business at Mossy Creek, and now owns the largest and best equipped livery stable in Jefferson County. He is an enterprising and public-spirited citizen, and encourages all public enterprises. He is a warm friend of the public schools, and has served for a number of years as School Com- missioner in his district. He was married in 1867 to Martha A. Johnson, who was born in Jefferson County, in September, 1850, and is the daughter of Joel Johnson, of Jefferson County. To this union ten children have been born, one of whom is deceased.
James H. Biddle. M. D., farmer and dealer in real estate at White Pine, was born in Washington County, Tenn., May 9, 1824, and is the son of Samuel and Margaret ( Wilson)
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Biddle, natives of Tennessee, and a resident of the farm. He grew up on the farm, and finished his education principally at New Market and Dandridge. He taught and attended school about six years, after which he turned his attention to speculating in stock for a short time. and then became a medical student under his brother, David W. Biddle. At the expiration of about three years, his brother and himself attended lectures at Phila- delphia, and after returning he practiced with his brother until the latter's death in 1857. He then began work for himself, practicing at different places in Jefferson County, ever since. Ile located at White Pine October 11, 1882. February 9, 1865, he married Julia A. Hammer, the union having been blessed with four daughters and three sous. Mrs. Biddle died in the fall of 1886. Our subject has been successful in all his under- takings, and is a respected citizen. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
John Fain Brazelton was born in New Market. Jefferson Co., Tenn., August 22, 1833, and is the son of Gen. William and Martha A. (Gillespie) Brazelton. The father was born one mile below New Market April 9, 1792. He was the son of William, who was also the son of William, a native of North Carolina. William, the father, was reared on the farm and acquired a limited education. He was possessed of a strong mind, and mastered the principles of mathematics and surveying, but did not follow the latter. Until his nineteenth year he worked with his father on the farm, and then went to live with John Fain, a merchant of Dandridge, and was by that gentleman employed in pod- dling goods through the country in a wagon. He became a partner of Mr. Fain in about 1815, and established a store at Mossy Creek, which at that time was the only store from Mossy Creek to Knoxville, Dandridge, Cheek's Cross Roads and Rutledge. Two years later the copartnership was dissolved, and he and Robert Massengill formed a copartner- ship, and carried on the business until 1822, and then removed to New Market and con- tinued business together until 1827, when Mr. Massengill retired, and our subject's father then ran the business until 1836. He then formed a copartnership with W. H. Moffett, and with him carried on business until 1840, when Mr. Moffett withdrew, and he ran the business alone until the breaking out of the late war. During the above time he was also engaged in extensive farming, owning and cultivating one of the finest farms in East Tennessee, embracing about 1,000 acres of land. During the militia days in Tennessee he was prominently connected with that organization, and filled positions in the same from captain to general, and from 1839 to 1847 was major-general of the East Tennessee Militia, being one of three officers of that rank in the entire State. Before the war he was super- intendent of the East Tennessee & Virginia Railway, and for several years was a mem- ber of the Agricultural Bureau at Nashville. He was one of the most prominent men .ever produced by Jefferson County, and his death occurring May 17, 18:7,;after a long and useful life, was sincerely mourned by all who knew him. The mother was born at Limestone, Washington County, near the Greene County line, May 10, 179S, and was the daughter of Thomas Gillespie, of that county. She died December 13, 1881. Previous to this union the father of our subject was married to Mary P. Reese. in 1816, who was born near Mossy Creek in about 1798, and was the daughter of Joseph Reese, and a sister of Judge William B. Reese, of Knoxville, and of Dr. J. B. M. Reese, of Mossy Creek. She died in 1826. Our subject was reared in the store at New Market, and educated at New Market and Knoxville. He remained with his father in business until 1860, and then followed farming below New Market for three years, and then returned to town. In December, 1866, he removed to his present farm near Mossy Creek. He was married in 1860 to Blanch Branner, who was born at Mossy Creek in 1842, and was the daughter of George Branner. She died in May, 1876. To this union seven children were born, three of whom are living.
Prof. W. S. Bryan, principal of Dumplin High School, was born at Mossy Creek July 1, 1857, the son of Prof. R. R. and Rebecca A. (Langbord) Bryan. The father, born in Sevier County April 11. 1822, and died January 20, 1879, was the son of Thomas Bryan, and was educated at Strawberry Plains Academy, and was the first professor in charge of what is now Carson College, and conducted it before and two years after the war, and then retired on account of his health. He had
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JEFFERSON COUNTY.
the reputation of being one of the finest English scholars in East Tennessee. He was a Baptist. Peter, the grandfather, was a member of the Territorial Legislature which framed the constitution of Tennessee. The mother, born in Blount County March 15, 1832, is the daughter of Rev. James Langbord (deceased), a Baptist divine. She is a Baptist, and is living near Mossy Creek. Her marriage to our subject's father occurred September 5. 1850. When our subject was five years old they left the vicinity of Mossy Creek for Sevier County, but at the close of the war returned. He graduated from Car- son College in 1881, and in the fall took his present position, since held, with the excep- tion of two years' teaching elsewhere. This school has seven grades and ten teachers, and has a scientific and classical course of as high a grade as any in the county, except the colleges at Mossy Creek, so made by our subject's management. January 15, 1852, he married Maggie, a daughter of Madison Cate, and born March 31, 1861. He and his wife are Baptists. Their children are Gertrude, born June 1, 1885, and Nellie, born May 20, 1887.
Elijah Bull, farmer, was born in Washington County, October 20, 1824, the son of Vincent G. and Lydia (Sitzler) Bull. The father was born in Washington County, the son of Jacob, a native of Maryland. Vincent G. was a gunsmith, and worked in Washing- ton, Jefferson and Grainger Counties, and at the time of his death was working a little northeast of Morristown. He was a Methodist, and died in 1846. The mother was born in Washington County, in 1805, the daughter of William Sitzler. She is a Methodist. and lives with our subject. Elijah was educated at John Ward's school. bear Morris- town, aud has ever been a successful farmer, and a respected man. March 24, 1846. he married Susannah, a daughter of John Easterly, and born in Grainger County, October 2. 1825. They had one child, and his wife died March 30, 1847. February 14, 1849. he married Mary A. Thompson, a daughter of Gideon and Charlotte Read, who was born October 2, 1826, in Jefferson County. Seven of eight children are living. This wife died April 30. 1873, and December 15, 1874, he married Elizabeth (Bogard) Trotter, daughter of Rev. Lemuel and Hannah Bogard. Rev. Lemuel is a retired minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and several years was a member of Holston Conference, and is now living with his son-in-law, John Butler. His wife died September 16. 1896. A son and a daughter of three of our subject's children by this marriage are living. His wife is an estimable member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Our subject owns a farm of 114 acres, and is considered one of the best farmers in his district.
John Burchfill, a farmer. was born in Jefferson County, Tenn., June 27, 1831. He is the son of Robert and Anna E. (Malcum) Burchfill, both natives of Tennessee: the former was of English stock, and the latter of German. The father was a farmer. Our subject had the limited advantages of the farm and the country school, and farmed with his father until he was twenty-three years of age. In 1853 he married Mary A. M .. a daughter of Washington Aley, born December 15, 1835. Our subject has farmed chiefly since his marriage. Eleven of their eight sons and seven daughters are living: G. W Burchfill, born September 13, 1854; Robert Burchfill, born February 1, 1856: Joseph .1. Burehfill, born September 7, 1857; Elizabeth I. Burchfill, born March 24, 1859: Willi un H. Burchfill, born November 28, 1860; Miss Anna E. Burchfill, born February 08. 1-61: Miss Barbara L. Burchfill, born March 12, 1863: James C. Burchfill, born November 6. 1864; Miss M. J. Burchfill, born May 9, 1866; Miss M. V. Burchtill, born February 27. 1868; a pair of twins were born September 4, 1869. named Thomas D. Burchfill and Rachel A. Burchfill; Jacob W. Burchfill, born October 13, 1879; John W. Burchtill. bern March 12, 1875. Our subject is a successful farmer, owning and cultivating 450 acres. He is a local minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been a zealous member for many years. He is a Republican.
Dr. A. A. Caldwell was born about two miles from Mossy Creek, Tenn .. Decem- ber 25. 1822, the son of John and Margaret Caliwell. The father was born in 1790 in Jefferson County, the son of Anthony, who came from his native Virginia to Tennessee soon after he left the Revolutionary army, at a time when Indians were more numerous than white people. He was a farmer. John acquired a limited education, and was a
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BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX.
self-made man. About 1840 he turned from farming to geology, and after prospecting in the mountains he developed the first copper ore mine in East Tennessee, at Ducktown, Polk County, in which mine he owned an interest. He was a practical and prominent geologist in East Tennessee and, as a man of great natural and aggressive ability; he was a prominent Whig, and afterward an Abolitionist, so that he attracted the attention of the leading men of the nation. North and South, and among his correspondents were Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and Garrett Smith, of New York. Such a course was very unpopular, then, but his descendants have lived to realize his wisdom. He also advocated the Liberia colonization scheme, and contributed his means to purchase and educate the first negro for the experiment. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and died October 20, 1869. The mother, born near Dandridge, July 26, 1787, was the daughter of Alexander Sheddan, a farmer of that county. She was a Presbyterian, and died January 5, 1861. Our subject was educated at Holston College, New Market, and when twenty-one began medicine under Dr. Blackburn, a graduate of Louisville (Kentucky) Medical Col- lege. Two years later he began practice near Strawberry Plains, and is now a popular physician of thirty-seven years' practice in Jefferson, Knox and Sevier Counties. He is a Democrat, and in 1852 represented a Republican county by 2, 000 majority in the Legislature, the first Democrat who ever received that honor. He was on the Sanitary Committee, and that of Charitable Institutions, and others, and was active in the movement to estab- lish a branch insane asylum at Knoxville. He is a broad progressive man, interested in all public elements of welfare. He is a Presbyterian and a Mason. In January, 1849, he married Louisa, a daughter of Maj. A. R. Meek, of Strawberry Plains, whose sketch appears. elsewhere. Their children are Margaret B., born April 18, 1850; deceased August 22, 1851; Harriet, January 12, 1851. deceased January 10, 1875; Charles M., August 29, 1854, deceased November 9, 1876; Alfred. May 16, 1856; Cynthia A., December 8, 1861; Sarah P., February 10, 1864, and Georgiana D., June 7, 1868. The wife and chil- dren are Presbyterians.
J. W. Carmichael, M. D., was born in Jefferson County, two miles from Dandridge, September 11, 1849, and is the son of Lemuel and Susanah (Miller) Carmichael. The father was born in Jefferson County in 1817, and was the son of Lemuel Carmichael, a native of Buncombe County, N. C., who immigrated to Tennessee at a very early day, and was one of the pioneers of Jefferson County. The father was a farmer by occupation, and lived a long and useful life, being in his seventieth year when he died April 29, 1887. He was an honest and upright citizen, a believer in and of the Baptist faith, and was universally respected by all who knew him. The mother was also born in Jefferson County, in 1819, She is a pious, Christian lady, a woman of great social and moral worth, a member of the Baptist Church, and lives near Sevierville, Tenn. Our subject was reared on the farm, and acquired his literary education at French Broad Academy, in Sevier County, and at Mossy Creek College, Jefferson County. He then taught school at Catlettburg, Sevier County, for two years, and then took up the study of medicine under Dr. J. C. Cawood, of Dandridge. In 1883 he attended the medical department of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, and graduated from that noted institution in February, 1887. He began practicing. however, in August, 1877, and con- tinued, with the exception of time spent in attending lectures, up to the present. He is & well-read physician, and has built up one of the best practices in the county, and estab- lished for himself a fine professional standing. He is a member of Jefferson Medical Association, and also of Brazelton Lodge No. 190, F. & A. M. He is a public-spirited and enterprising citizen, broad and liberal in his views, and always encourages public enterprises of a worthy nature. and has always taken an interest in school and church matters. He has prospered in his practice, and from nothing has worked his way up to influence and affluence, and is now in very good circumstances. He is progressive in spirit, and is always to be found in the front rank in all public movements in his neigh- borhood, and is universally esteemed and respected. He was married May 1. 1877, to Ellen V. McClary, who was born in Sevier County, Tenn., on January 24, 1861, and is the daughter of Jacob and Eliza A. (Henderson) McClary, of Sevier County, one of the
S, & Rankin
JEFFERSON COUNTY. 1165
oldest families of East Tennessee. To this union two boys have been born: Cawood, born on April 3, 18;8, and Henry Newman, born December 2, 1882. Both our subject and wife are members of Dumplin Baptist Church.
J. R. N. Carson, of Carson & Peak, general merchants, Carsonville, was born five miles above Dandridge, July 14, 1850, the son of Benjamin and Sarah (Hale) Carson. The father was born in Jefferson County. in 1922, the son of John Carson, a native of Vir- ginia, and an early pioncer of Jefferson County. He was an esteemed farmer, and a mom- ber of the Presbyterian Church, and his death occurred in 1865. The mother was born in what is now Hamblen County, in 1824, the daughter of Richard Hale. She is a devoted Christian of the Presbyterian faith, and makes her home with our subject. Mr. Carson was reared on the farm, and educated at Dandridge. He engaged in merchandising in 1873, at White Pine, and continued there for about ten years, and for four years oper- ated a farm in connection with his store, In 1886 he removed to Carsonville, and opened his present business, which has been most successful, placing him among the leaders of his town. In 1873 he married Eliza J., the daughter of James Rayl, and born in East Jefferson County, in 1858. Four of their five children are living. His wife is a Presby- terian. J. H. Carson, an uncle, was a prominent man, and was a member of the Lower House in the Legislature, two terms, and also in the Senate, for a similar time. At his death he endowed Carson College with $25,000, and the institution, from which that town took its name, was given its present title in his honor. James Hale, was another uncle who represented JJefferson County in the Lower House, two sessions.
I. M. Cate, farmer, was born in Sevier County, Tenn., May 13, 1850, the son of Perry and Sarah (Underwood) Cate. The father, born in Sevier County, in 1820, was a farmer and merchant in Sevier County for several years, before and after the war, but is now a farmer, and a highly respected member of the Baptist Church. Joshua, the grandfather, was born in North Carolina, and came, when two years old, with his parents. to the Indian-infested regions of East Tennessee. An aunt was killed by the Indians in North Carolina. The mother was born in 1820, in Sevier County, the daughter of George Underwood, a farmer. She wasa Baptist, and died in 1873. Our subject attended school at Dandridge, Mossy Creek, and Dumplin Valley, and in 1871 engaged in farming and saw milling in Jefferson County. He owns 160 acres in the Eleventh District, and also eighty-three acres, seventy-three of the first and fifty of the last, in timber. He also owns, with his father, a saw and grist mill, with a daily capacity of 4,000 to 6,000 feet of lumber and 100 bushels of corn. He is a Baptist, a Mason, and a highly respected man. May 3, 18:0, he married Millie, a daughter of J. M. and Mary (Denton) Thomas, and born May 26, 1851, in Cocke County. J. M. was born in 1825, the son of George Thomas, of England, and died in January, 1886. Mary was born in 1827, the daughter of Abra- ham Denton. She is a Baptist, and now lives in Jefferson County. Their children are Ida C. (1871), Sallie A. (1873), Mollie E. (1876), Effie C. (1878), Perry B. (1SS2) and Lora E. (1886). The wife is a Baptist.
Dr. J. C. Cawood, of Dandridge, was born near Speedwell, Claiborne County, July 4, 1830, and was educated at Powell's Valley Academy, at Speedwell, and at Franklin Academy, at Jacksboro, and for one year in the University of Tennessee. Typhoid fever prevented his further attendance, especially as he was compelled to work mornings and evenings for his board. He read medicine under the late Dr. Collins, of Meigs County, and attended lectures, and graduated from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in 1859. In April of that year he married Annie E. Eastham, of Flint Hill, Va. Two of their children are deceased, and those living are Charles M., Robert A. and Nellie V. Charles and Robert were educated at the University of Tennessee, and the one studying medicine and the other law. His daughter, a bright young lady, was educated by teach- ers at home and at Rogersville Female College. Our subject has a high reputation as a physician and surgeon, extensively employed at home during the war. He is a promi- nent Mason, having served as Worshipful Master for eighteen years, and his Chapter as II. P., for fourteen years. He has also served as Junior Grand Warden, and Grand Master of the Grand Lodge, the latter of which he filled with distinction. He is also P. D.
73
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BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX.
G. H. P. of the Grand Chapter of Tennessee. He took the stump against secession, and in 1880 was an alternate to the Cincinnati convention which nominated Hancock: and a delegate and in 1984 to the convention which nominated Cleveland.
John L. Chilton, a farmer in the Twefth District, was born in Jefferson County. Tenn., September 17, 1853, the son of Joseph and Minerva (Scruggs) Chilton, natives of Tennessee. The father was a farmer, and died when our subject was but four years of age, and the mother but six years later. His grandfather Scruggs then adopted him and gave him, besides the usual advantages of rural life, an education at Mossy Creek school, He grew up as a farmer, and, in 1878, began for himself on his present farm. Ida M., a daughter of George S. Eckel, became his wife in 1876. One son is dead, and the names of those children living are Love E., Joseph A., Dutie K. and Samuel P. Our subject is a stock raiser. He is quite a positive Democrat, and a believer in Prohibition.
Hon. John J. Cole, merchant, was born in Jefferson County, December 30, 1846, the son of John L. and Mary E. (Bettis) Colle. John L., the father, was born in Jefferson County, April 28, 1823, the son of James, a native of North Carolina. who came to Ten- nessee when a child. The paternal grandfather came to America, and entered the Ameri- can army in the Revolution, while his brother, who came with him, entered the British army. John L. was a contractor and builder, and erected Tusculum College just before his death. He was a man of considerable prominence, and served as revenue collector of Jefferson County before his death. In 1862 the Confederate soldiers made an attempt to take the moneys of the above trust, and even lodged him in the Knoxville jail. There he was exchanged, but again arrested and imprisoned at Morristown, but still retained the money. He was last elected in 1868, and again solicited in 1886, but declined. August 1. 1886, is the date of his death. Mary E., the mother, was born in Jefferson County, March 27, 1825, the daughter of John W. and Elizabeth H. (Lyle) Bettis, the former a native of Jefferson (now Hamblen) County. The mother is now a resident of Tusculum. Greene County. Our subject grew up on the farm, and was educated at the New Market and Mount Horeb schools. After a year on the farm, he engaged in merchandising at Mount Horeb, in a small frame house he erected. His present handsome brick was erected in 1882, and from the establishing of Mount Horeb Postoffice, in 1870, to 1886, he was the postmaster, and then resigned. He is at present State senator, representing four counties, and in the session of 1886-87 he served on the committees of education, charitable insti- tutions, state debt, corporations, public buildings and grounds, and internal improve- ments, and was chairman of the committee on claims; also chairman of the Republican senatorjal committee. He is now secretary of the board of trustees of the Mount Horeb High School. He is an Odd Fellow, who has served in every chair but that of Grand Master of the Grand Lodge, and is an elder in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. September 11, 1867, he married Martha A. Rankin, who was born in Jefferson County, November 18, 1847, and is the daughter of J. E. Rankin. Their children are Charles E., born June 14, 1868; Ira M., born July 18, 1870; and an infant (deceased), born June 23, 1874.
II. P. Coile, M. D., was born in Jefferson County, September 2, 1852, and is the son of John L. and Mary E. (Bettis) Coile. The father was born in Jefferson County. Tenn .. in 1823, and was the son of James Coile. He was a farmer by vocation, and carried on contracting, and at the time of his death, which occurred August 1, 1886, was engaged on a contract for the erection of a college building in Greene County. He served as revenue collector of Jefferson County at the beginning of the late war, holding the same for two or three terms, making a most efficient and satisfactory official. He was a member of the Presbyterian Chureb, and a man highly esteemed and respeeted by the community at large. The mother was also born in Jefferson County, about 1825, and was the daughter of John W. Bettis, a farmer of the above county. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and a pious, religious woman, and now makes her home in Greene County. Our subject was reared principally on the farm of his parents, and acquired his early education in the schools of his county. He began the study of medicine October 2, 1871, under Dr. J. Nathaniel Lyle, of Dandridge, and in the fall of 1872 entered the Jefferson Medical Col- lege, of Philadelphia, from which he graduated March 13, 1875. Ile began practicing his
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