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 69
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John L. Blah, farmer, was born at Jonesboro, Tenn., March 23, 1823, the son of John and Mary (Chester) Blair. The father, a native of this county, was born September 13, 1790, the son of John, Sr., a native of Ireland, who was a pioneer farmer of East Tennes- see, and a soldier of the Revolution. He died in this county in 1799. Thefather is a prom inent man of East Tennessee; was educated at Washington College, and was for four- teen years a member of Congress. He was a merchant a good share of his life, and in all ways an able man. On August 7, 1812, he married Mary H., a daughter of William Ches- ter, at Jonesboro. She was born in Washington County, May 12, 1797. Their children are Mary C., Susan K., Elizabeth P., William P., John J., Andrew J., Alexander ., Robert L., Francis L., and Sarah E. P. She died November 11, 1819, and the father March 22, 1663. Both were Presbyterians. £ Our subject was reared in Jonesboro, where he was educated, and has devoted his life to farming and merchandising. Augat 12, 1856, he married Mary J., a daughter of Thomas J. Cox. She was born in Washing- ton County, March 17, 1838. Their children are Robert A., born June 24, 1856; Susan C., born August 17, 1859; Albert S., born November 27, 1861; Mary C., born Sept. 2, 1865: and John M., born June 5, 1814. He and his wife are Presbyterians, and are representa- tives of old families of East Tennessee.
A. B. Bowman, clerk and master of chancery court, was born near Johnson City, January 12, 1858. the son of John H. and Rebecca (Smith) Bowman, the former boro near Blue Plumb (now Johnson City) January 9, 1809, the son of Joseph and Mary (Hoss) Bowman. Joseph, born in 1784, in Virginia, was of the Bowman family which came from Pennsylvania to Virginia, and then to Washington County. The father was a carpenter. and assisted in buliding the Jonesboro courthouse and other buildings. In 1835 he returned to the vicinity of his birth, and two years later engaged in merchandising. In 1860. after the building of the railroad. be was the second man to open a store in Johnson City. He was a prominent man, and was honored with the nomination for the Legislature, but declined. He died January 19, 1874. The mother was born near Elizabethton. Teun .. January 10, 1516, the daughter of Caleb and Elizabeth (Doren) Smith. Her father's brother was a colonel, and with five sons fought under Gen. Putnam in the battle of Cows
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Pens, where three of his sons were killed. Caleb came to Tennessee between 1790 and 1800. The mother was a sister of the late Chancellor II. C. Smith, an aunt of present Chancellor Jobn P. Smith, and a cousin of Oliver Smith, author of Smith's Grammar. She died April 15, 1878. Our subject received an academical education, and August 1, 1878, when but twenty years of age, became postmaster at Johnson City, and April 1, 1875, resigned to take charge of his father's estate, of which he was appointed executor In 1878 he became an unsuccessful candidate for representative on the Republican ticket, and again two years later, the latter time defeated by only A16, of a vote. In 1883 he declined the nomination conferred on hin. and December 7 of that year was appointed to bis present position. Four years he served on the county Republican executive committee, and for two years was president of the county agricultural society. In 1880 he engaged in the fruit canning business, with his brother-in-law, J. C. Mooman, of Cloverdale, Va., but since 1883 has been sole proprietor of that flourishing establishment at. Johnson City. He is a broad and liberal man. September 22, 1880, Mary, a daughter of Robert and Louisa (De Vault) Rankin, became his wife. She was born near Greeneville, Tenir., Sep- tember 5, 1853. He and his wife are Presbyterians, and he is an elder. Through his grandmother on his father's side he is related to Daniel Boone, the pioneer.
Joseph B. Bowman was born September 30, 1832, on the farm where he has since resided. He received a common-school education, which he has since greatly improved. and was thrown upon his own resources when eighteen years old. He inherited some property from his father, but has more than doubled in amount what he inherited. He owns a fine farm of 185 acres where he resides, besides a valuable mill property and other tracts of land in the county. He was married in 1855 to Miss Susanna, a daughter of Emanuel and Martha (Garber) Arnold, natives of Rockingham County, Va., where Mrs. Susanna Bowman was born. To Mr. and Mrs. Bowman five children have been born: Rebecca, Catherine (now Mrs. A. B. White), Emanuel A., Samuel J., Mary Susan and John P. Mr. and Mrs. Bowman and children, except the youngest child, are members of the German Baptist Church. Mr. Bowman is a minister of the gospel and ordained elder in that church. Mr. Bowman is a Republican in politics, and during the late war was a strong Union man. He is the youngest of nine children of Joseph and Christianna (Beam) Bowman, natives of Rockingham County, Va. Mr. Bowman came to Washing. ton County, Tenn., when quite young, and when grown returned to Virginia, married in 1819, and returned to the farm where his son now resides, where he died. He began life for himself, a poor man, and by his splendid practical business ability accumulated con- siderable property. He was a house carpenter by trade, and ranked with the best of his calling. Himself and wife were members of the German Baptist Church. He was a deacon in the church. Mr. and Mrs. Bowman were of German descent, and they were educated in the German tongue. He was a son of Jacob Bowman, an old resident o1 Rockingham County, Va., where he died. He was a member of the German Baptist Church. He followed farming very successfully all his life, and was considered one of the leading farmers of his day. The farm Mr. J. B. Bowman resides on was entered in 1780, by Samuel Fair, and Mr. Bowman's father was the second man to own the land, which has since been owned by the Bowmans.
Stephen A. Bovell. farmer and teacher, was born in Washington County, Tenn., at Brownsboro, May 3, 1842, the son of W. W. and Minerva G. (Tyler) Bovell, the former born in Abingdon. Va., October 13, 1809, the son of Rev. Stephen Bovell, a native of Pennsylvania, and of French descent. The father was educated in Washington College, and after three years of medical study began practice, but is now retired from his success. ful career in medicine. In 1829 he married Easter M. Doak, who died Angust 10. 1835. and March 29. 190S. he married the mother of our subject, the daughter of William Tyler. She died October 16. 1880, aged sixty-two years. Our subject is her only living child- He was educated at Washington College and at Princeton, N. J. His life has been devoted to farming, teaching and the newspaper business. December 29. 1883, he mar- ried S. A. Waddill, and Mary E. is their only child. Our subject has contributed among others to the following journals: The Jonesboro Union Flag, The Jonesboro Herald and
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Tribune, Jonesboro Times, Nashville Daily Press and Times, The Tennessee State Journal, The Nashville American, and The Louisville Commercial.
J. J. Brown. farmer and merchant, was born in Washington County February 23, 1840, the son of Bird and Louisa R. (Sevier) Brown. The father, a successful farmer, was born in this county, October 20, 1801, the son of Jacob Brown, a native of Tennessee, and born in December, 1736, and who was a son of Jacob, Sr., a native of North Carolina, and an carly settler and merchant of East Tennessee, whose biography you will find in Ramsey's History of Tennessee. He was of English stock, and died March 24. 1886. The mother, a daughter of John Sevier, a son of Gov. Sevier, was born in Greene County November 21, 1816, and died May 20, 1842. Our subject and Sophia L. are their only children. J. J. was educated at Fall Branch Seminary, and has devoted himself to farm- ing and milling. January 1, 1866, he married Ester E., a daughter of Thomas J. Wilson. They have had six sons and two daughters. He and his wife are Methodists of the Southern Branch. He is a Master Mason and a Democrat.
Walter P. Brownlow was born at Abingdon, Va., March 27, 1851, the son of Joseph A. and Mary R. (Bari) Brownlow, the former born in 1810, on Cripple Creek, Wythe Co., Va., the son of Joseph A., Sr., a native of Rockingham County, Va. Joseph, Jr., and two brothers, learned the carpenter's trade with an uncle iu Abingdon, Va., and William G., one of these, became governor and United States senator for Tennessee; and Alexander died in Johnson City, Tenn., in 1883. Joseph, Sr., was a carpenter in Virginia, and spent one year in Nashville. He was an able and broad-minded man, and died August 15, 1861. The mother, a daughter of Dr. W. F. Barr, was born in North Carolina, and now lives in Abingdon, where her father practiced. Our subject was a messenger boy in the Abingdon telegraph office after his father's death, but when only thirteen he joined Company D, Eighth Federal Tennessee Cavalry, but was refused mus- ter on account of his age. After the war he served an apprenticeship at the tinner's trade with his brother at Rogersville, and was engineer on the Rogersville & Jefferson Railroad, and, although inexperienced, was successful. In 1873 he became collector for the south ern agents of the Wheeler & Wilson Sewing Machine Company, and a year later became general manager for East Tennessee and Northern Georgia, with office located at Knox- ville. In 1876 he entered politics as a special reporter for the Knoxville Daily Chronicle, traveling with A. H. Pettibone, H. S. Foot and Emerson Etheridge, and reporting their speeches during their canvass; and on October 28, he bought the Herald and Tribune, at Jonesboro, and became editor and proprietor. In 1880 he became chairman of the cam- paign committee of the First Congressional District, and was elected delegate to the Chi- cago National Convention. In 1881 he became postmaster at Jonesboro, and in Decem- ber of the same year he was elected door-keeper of the Lower House of the XLVII Congress, serving two years. In 1883 he became chairman of the Republican State Com- mittee, and in 1884 chairman of the First District Congressional Committee, and delegate at large to the Chicago National Convention, where he was unanimously elected by the Tennessee delegation as one of the National Republican Committee. Since February 15. 1885, he has been superintendent of the United States Senate folding room. On Jannary 7, 1870, at the age of nineteen, he married A. Holbach, at that time principal of the music department of the Rogersville Female College, a native of Charlotteville. Va., the daugh- ter of Jobn P. and Ellen W. Holbach. All but one of their six children are living.
Robert Burrow, superintendent of the Tennessee penitentiary and a prominent law- yer, was born in Elizabethtown, Tenn., April 5. 1857, the son of James A. and Elizabeth (Carty) Burrow, the former born in Sullivan County, in October 1823. the son of Robert Burrow, of Virginia, a pioneer of the above county. James was a resident of Elizabeth- town and at Bristol after the war. He is at present a recorder in that city. The mother was born in Montgomery County, Va., June 14. 1823, the daughter of Rev. John Carty, a Methodist. and now a resident of Bristol. Our subject, the third child, was reared in Elizabethtown and Bristol, and was educated at King's College, and in 1877 read law with Col. N. M. Taylor, being admitted in November, 1875, his license being signed by JJudges Hacker and Smith. He began practice in Bristol, but since 1833 he has been at Johnson
a. what
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City, and in partnership with Gov. Robert Taylor, until the latter became United States pension agent. He (Gov. Taylor) and Nathanial Love established the Johnson City Cont!, in 1854, in which he is still interested. In 1880 he became a county elector, and in 1882 he was nominated for the Legislature, but defeated. In 1884 he was a Cleveland elector, and in 1856 made a vain race for attorney-general. He was made chairman of the executive committee of the First Congressional District, and April 15, 1887, he was appointed to his present position. On November 20, 1883, Belle, a daughter of Henry Lyle, became bis wife, born in 1860. They have had two children. She is a Methodist.
John C. Campbell, merchant, was born at Sneedville, Tenn., March 16, 1853, the son of Robert and Elizabeth (Stubblefield) Campbell, the former a native of the same place, born January 10, 1816. The parents of Alexander, the next ancestor, were natives of Virginia, and pioneers of Hawkins County, Tenn., while he was born near Rogersville. about 1790. A son of his was killed by the Indians. Alexander crected the fist house in Speedville, and was a prominent magistrate of his county many years. He served in the Indian war of about 1814, and died in 1869. Robert was a farmer, and is now living in Washington County. He is the eldest of three brothers, Robert, Joseph and I. W. H. T. Campbell, second son of I. W., was elected one year ago to the office of attorney-general for the First Judicial District of the State, at the age of twenty-six. The mother was born in Rockingham County, N. C., in 1825, the daughter of Robert and Polly Stubble field, who settled in Hawkins (now Hancock) County. Our subject is the seventh'of eleven children. William and Alexander, brothers, served in Company E, Eighth Tennessee Cavalry, as non-commissioned officers. William was county clerk two terms, also, and served eight years as circuit clerk of Hancock County. Our subject grew up at Sneed- ville and finished his education at Buffalo Institute (now Milligan College), near Johnson City. From 1880 he was a Republican trustee of Hancock County for two years, but since 1882 he has been a merchant at Johnson City. With his stock of about $1,000 he doe, a business of about $15,000 annually, as one of the leaders. September 2, 1880. Hassie Nelson became his wife. She was born in this county March 4, 1856, the daughter of Col. P. P. C. Nelson, a State senator for three terms, and speaker to fill Mr. Center's unexpired term. He was also quartermaster of the Eighth Tennessee Cavalry, and died in May, 1880. Our subject and wife are Methodists, and they have had three children born to them.
J. F. Copp, the subject of the following sketch, is one of the most prosperous farmers in the First District of Washington County, Tenn., and was born in said county April 21, 1850, and is the son of Peter and Mary (Burgner) Copp. The father was born in Washington County, Teon., in the year 1818, and is the son of Jacob and Mary (Walter) Copp. Jacob was born in Shenandoah County. Va., and was of German lineage. He removed to Tennessee from Virginia in the early seetlement of East Tennessee, and was a farmer by occupation. Our subject's father is also a farmer, and resides in the First District, Washington County. Tenn., and is in an advanced age. He has been a success- ful farmer, and is a universally respected citizen. He is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and is possessed of a zealous, religious spirit. The mother of our subject was born in Greene County, Tenn., in the year 1827. and is the daughter of Peter and Eva (Broyles) Burgner. She is the mother of three sons and one danghter. all living. viz .: William C .. Jacob E., Eva E. and James M. She is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, a kind and intelligent woman, and an affectionate mother, Loved and esteemed by all who know her. Our subject was reared on the farm and educated in the country schools. He has devoted most of his life to farming but has been engaged in merchandising. He has been successful in his undertakings. and now owns and cultivares a fine farm of 200 acres, situated in the valley of the Nollichucky River. In 1873 he married Mary E. Walter, daughter of Peter Walter. One son, Bruce B .. and one daugh- ter, Birdie Beatrice, blessed this union. The mother died in 1870. in the twenty -fifth year of her age. In 1851 our subject married for his second wife. Catherine M. Painter, and two children, Flora M. and Fornie E., have blessed this marriage. Our subject is a mem - ber of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and in polities is a Democrat.
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J. W. Crumley, chairman of the county court, was born in Sullivan County, near Bris- tol, February 28, 1856; the son of E. S. and Rachel C. (Sells) Crumley, the former born in the same county, the sou, Daniel W., a trustee and sheriff of that county for several years. Our subject's father was a tanner, but at Johnson City he engaged in the hardware busi- ness, and died in 1876. The mother, born about 1837, in the above county, was a daughter of Samuel Sells, and sister to the present sheriff of her native county. Our subject was reared in a small town until fifteen years old and finished his school days at Bristol and Johnson City. In 1878 he learned tinning and soon engaged in the business with his father. In 1884 he became justice of the Johnson City District and afterward corporation magistrate, which he now holds. In January, 1887, he was elected chairman of the county court, over one of the best chairmen that county ever had, and also he was the youngest member. In 1886 he was an unsuccessful candidate for representative. In 1887 the State Temperance Alliance appointed him chairman of the county executive com- mittee. In 1877. Mary C., a daughter of A. F. Gregory, became his wife. She was born in Virgina, and died in 1878, leaving one child, Edward M. S., born in March, 1878. He and his wife were both Methodists, but she had been a Presbyterian.
James W. Deaderick, ex chief justice of Tennessee, at Jonesboro, was born there November 25, 1812, the son of David and Margaret (Anderson) Deaderick, the former born in Winchester. Va. in 1756, the son of German parents. When cighteen years of age he was paymaster in the Continental war. He then soou came to East Tennessee and was the first merchant in Jonesboro, and became wealthy and died in 1823. He repre- sented Washington County in the Legislature at an early date, and his strict integrity made bim highly esteemed. The mother was born in Delaware. Six of her brothers were officers in the Revolution, and one, Joseph, became the first Federal judge appointed for Tennessee, and two others became Congressmen. She made her home with her sister in this county. where she married. She died in 1856 in Jonesboro. By the father's previous marriage he had one child. Dr. W. H., a well known physician in East Tennessee, who died at Athens. Our subject, the youngest of six children, was reared in Jonesboro, and afterward entered Washington College, and when about sixteen spent two years in East Tennessee University at Knoxville. He also attended Center College, Danville. Ky .. and in 1832 returned to Jonesboro and married. He then became a merchant at Checks Cross Roads for eight years. and the returned to Jonesboro and read law under Judge Lucky, and was admitted in 1815. In 1951 he became a Whig representative in the Legislature, and after the war resumed practice. In 1870 he was clected to a place on the supreme bench, and at the death of Judge Nicholson was made chief justice, and re-elected in 1878. After two terms he voluntarily retired in 1886, and returned home to Jonesboro. In 1832 he married Adaline, a daughter of Dr. Ephraim McDowell, the first physician to introduce ovariatomy, and to whose memory the physi- cians of Kentucky erected a monument at Danville, May 14, 1879. and published a memorial of bim. Our subject has had ten children, but one deceased. His wife is a granddaughter of Gov. Shelby, of Kentucky.
James E. Deakins, farmer, was born in Washington County, December 15, 1827, the son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Beard) Deakins. The father was born in this county about 1795, the son of James Deakins, of English lineage. The father died about 1855, a successful farmer, and the mother, a daughter of a Mr. Beard, also English, was born in 1792, in Washington County. She died about 1849, a member of the Baptist Church. Our sub- ject, the only one living of two sons and two daughters, grew up accustomed to country life, and enlisted in Company E, Eighth Tennessee Cavalry, and afterward was a recruit. ing officer. He became captain of Company HI, Eighth Tennessee Cavalry ( Eighth and Tenth consolidated), and was a major when he resigned, June 10, 1865. He then served four years as circuit clerk. He now owns a farm of 120 acres. In 1852 he married Eliza- beth Smith, a daughter of John Smith. Their living children are William H. C., John C. and James S. A son and daughter are deceased. The family are Baptists, and politically Republican.
Valentine De Vault, farmer, was born February 16, 1822, in Washington County. on
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the Watauga River. He began as a farmer when twenty years old, and now owns a farm of 350 acres, where he lives, and an orange grove in Florida. November 17, 1857, he mar- ried Edna, a daughter of George and Elizabeth Hannah, natives of Roanoke County, Va. Their children are: John C. (deceased), George V., William W. and Robert D. Both are Methodists, and he is a Democrat. He has been a school commissioner six years. His parents were Valentine, Sr., and Susannah (Range) De Vault, natives of York County, Pa., and this county respectively, and were successful in their farm life. The father was an able business man, and a member of the Lutheran Church. Henry and Catharine M. (Graves) De Vault, natives of France and Germany respectively, who, after their marriage came to America, and settled in York, Penn., where they reared a large family. Some remained in Pennsylvania, some went to Indiana, and some to Tennessee, but all are now deceased. The mother was a daughter of Peter Range, one of the earliest settlers of this county.
A. S. N. Dobson, M. D .. was born in 1840 in Greene County, near Tusculum College, from which he graduated in the classical course in 1863. In 1875 he graduated from the medical department of Vanderbilt University, and first began practice at Felicity, Ohio, where he remained three years, during which time he taught school two terms. Hc then came to Broylesville in September 6, 1866. He began for himself when twenty-two years of age, and now owns a fine farm of 300 acres. In 1863 he was conscripted in the Confederate Army, and served six months, although a Union man in sentiment. He was captured at Cumberland Gap by Gen. Burnside's command, and taken to Camp Douglas, Chicago, Ill., and released upon proof of his loyalty. December 28, 1863, he married Nannie J., a daughter of David R. McGaughey, a native of Greene County, and deceased in Indiana when his daughter was but six years old. Her grandfather then brought and reared her in Tennessee, and gave her a scientific education at Greeneville Academy. Their children are Eugene (deceased), Minnie L., Fred. F., May K., Roy C., Dean N. and Jessie N. The family are Presbyterians, and he has been a ruling elder for twenty years, and is now clerk of the session. He is a Democrat, and in 1884-85 represented his county in the Legislature. He is a Knight of Honor. His parents, Isaac C. and Lucinda (Buchanan) Dobson, were natives of Washington Counties, both in Tennessee and Virginia. The mother came to Tennessee in 1830. The father, served as revenue collector of Greene County for three terms, and was justice of the peace. They were of Scotch Irish origin. He was an able informed man, and a farmer and trader. Silas and Margaret (Copeland) Dobson are the next ancestors, natives of Blount County, Tenn., respectively; the former a farmer, and a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church. Isaac was also a ruling elder. Robert Dobson, a native of Scotland, was the next direct ancestor, and came to America when a young man, settled in North Carolina and afterward in Tennessee. The mother was a daughter of Andrew and Margaret (Vanlier) Buchanan, natives of Pennsylvania. and of Scotch origin. The Buchanan family, including President James Buchanan, have been noted for literary attainments. Three brothers settled in Tennessee. Our subject resigned the office of representative to accept that of examining pension surgeon. his present office. He has been a trustee of Washington College about twenty years. Maj. John McGaughey, the grandfather, was one of the convention that revised the State constitution of 1835, and was a member of the General Assembly for several terms. He was a leader of the Democracy, and a major in the war of 1812. He was one of the original directors and active in the construction of the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railway. He was an orator up to the time of his death, at the age of eighty-two.
Col. Robert H. Dungan was born in Smyth County, Va., September 18, 1834, the son of James B. and Sallie (Gollehon) Dungan, both of whom were born in the same locality as their son the former on February 14, 1513, and the latter January 3, 1813. James, the father, was the son of John B. Dungan, who was a native of England. He immigrated to America at an early date, and settled in Virginia. James was a farmer by vocation, and died in his native county on December 27, 1865. He was an orderly sergeant of Com- pany D, of the Forty-eighth Regiment of Virginia Infantry, and served throughout the war. The mother was born January 3, 1813, the daughter of Robert Gollehon, a native
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