USA > Tennessee > Notable men of Tennessee. Personal and genealogical, with portraits, Volume I > Part 19
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ALEXANDER DONALD COL- LIER, of Knoxville, Tenn., county judge of Knox county, was born in that county Jan. II, 1861, his parents being Thomas and Jane (Brown) Collier. Judge Collier was reared on his father's farm, eight miles from Knoxville, and secured his primary education in the country schools of that section. He then entered the university at Athens, Tenn., from which institution he graduated in 1888. He afterward graduated from the medical department of the University of Tennessee, at Nashville, but did not devote his time to medicine. While still living on his farm he took up the study of law, and in 1890 was admitted to the bar. In 1894 he was elected justice of the peace for the eighth district, and was again elected in 1900. He served two terms in the legislature, having been elected in 1898 and again in 1900, and in 1902 was elected county judge for a term of eight years. Judge Collier has always taken an active interest in politics, and has since he reached the voting age been a member of the executive committee of the Democratic party of Knox county.
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He is a Master Mason and an Odd Fellow. The family are of Scotch-Irish descent, and are Cumberland Presbyterians. The Colliers of Tennessee are descended from John Collier, who in 1772 removed from his native place near Harrisburg, Pa., to Randolph, N. C., where he and his wife, Margaret Register, reared a family of nine children, two sons and seven daughters. He was an ardent patriot, espoused the cause of the colonies and was made commander of the patriot troops of his county with the rank of colonel. His activity drew upon him the wrath of the Tories, who were greatly in the majority in his section, and he was persecuted by them, his house burned, and his family robbed. In 1792, at the age of sixty years, he removed with his family to Greene county, Tenn., where he purchased a farm, and where he and his wife died in 1823 and 1824, respectively. From him and his brother, Capt. James Collier, who moved to Ohio in 1814, have sprung most of the family in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and the West.
GEN. JOHN THOMAS WIL- DER, one of the most noted brigade commanders in the Union army, and at present pension agent at Knoxville, Tenn., has made for himself a his- tory which cannot receive proper treatment in the limited space or- dinarily allowed in a work of this nature. A volume would hardly suf- fice to tell the story of his life. He was born Jan. 31, 1830, at Hunter, Greene county, N. Y., his parents be- ing Reuben and Mary (Merritt) Wilder. The father was a millwright, contractor and farmer. The family removed to Ulster county, where the son was educated in the common schools. At an early age he went to Columbus, Ohio, where he served an apprenticeship as machinist, millwright and drafts- man. He then located at Greensburg, Ind., where he built a large millwright and mill furnishing establishment and prac- ticed. hydraulic engineering. At that time, and for several
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years, he built more mills than any man west of the Alleghany mountains. On May 18, 1858, he married Miss Martha Stuart, daughter of Silas and Rachel Stuart, of Greensburg. She died on Feb. 29, 1892, leaving six children, five daughters and a son. When the war came on, in 1861, he closed his business and enlisted as a private in the first artil- Jery company formed in Indiana, and was elected captain of the company. He built two guns and offered them to the government, but as they were from private parties the guvern- ment would not accept them. He then raised a regiment and mustered the Seventeenth Indiana mounted infantry, May 12, 1861, which afterward became a part of "Wilder's lightning brigade" of mounted infantry, or the First brigade of the Fourth division (Maj .- Gen. J. J. Reynolds) of the Fourteenth army corps, under Maj .- Gen. George H. Thomas, of the Army of the Cumberland, commanded by General Rosecrans. That brigade made a lasting record for itself, and its history is written, from its formation to the end of the war, in deeds of daring on the field, duty performed in the camp, on the march, or wherever and whenever called on for work. Many believe General Wilder to be the greatest military genius and soldier developed, during the war. As early as June, 1862, Gen. Thomas J. Woods commended him to the notice of the com- manding general. When called upon by General Chalmers, of Forrest's command, for the surrender of Munfordville, Ky., in September, 1862, General Wilder replied: "If you wish to avoid further bloodshed, keep out of the range of my guns. I think I can defend my position against your entire force; at least, I will try to do so." Colonel Dunham, who surrendered the forces at that place, after Wilder had refused to do so, said that no praise from him could add to Wilder's reputation as an officer. The Buell commission report of the following May said: "Colonel Wilder, the gallant commander at Munford- ville, refused to surrender until he had seen the forces opposed to him, with liberty to report the number." This, with refer- ence to Wilder asking General Chalmers to allow him (Wilder) to inspect Chalmers' whole army and be allowed to report its strength. But the commission failed to state that it was not
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Wilder who surrendered the city. His brigade captured Chat- tanooga, in September, 1863, and he evened the score with Forrest by defeating the latter and wounding him at Dalton. The brigade held a reunion at Chattanooga in September, 1903. on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the battle of Chickamauga, in which battle it took a conspicuous part. General Wilder, then seventy-four years old but active and vig- orous, acted as guide for the members of his brigade in the visit to the battlefield, and pointed out their different positions in that terrible conflict. After his discharge from service, at the end of the war, General Wilder returned to the South and began investigating the resources of Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland and Central Pennsylvania. As a result of his investigations, the iron furnace of Rockwood was established, the first cast of pig-iron being made in 1868. Later he went to Chattanooga and built a rail mill. This he sold and built a large foundry and machine shop. In 1873 he made an exhibit of the minerals of Tennessee at Vienna, at his own expense, and again in 1876, at the Philadelphia exposition. He went to Johnson City, Tenn., in 1874, and organized a furnace company and helped to build the Cincinnati Southern railway and Charleston, Chicago & Cincinnati railway. He has done more than any other man in the state to promote and develop the resources of Tennessee. He has opened a coal mine and built a town at Fentress, where the company's tenants are provided with good houses, hospital, library, school. churches, etc. He is general manager of the Fentress Coal and Coke Company; vice-president and manager of the Knoxville Power and Light Company, which is preparing to build a 30.000 horse-power plant; is a member of the National Geological society; honorary member of the Iron and Steel institute, of Great Britain; of the Scottish Geological society; of the Amer- ican Mining Engineers, and was for many years a member of the Society for the Advancement of Science, of America. He was appointed United States pension agent by President Mckinley, in 1897, reappointed by President Roosevelt, and has paid out $50,000,000 in the past six years. He has prob- ably paid out more money for labor in the past forty years
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than any man in the state, as the amount will exceed $25,000,000. General Wilder is a member of the Masonic fra- ternity and Loyal Legion, and was a. correspondent for a num- ber of years of the Smithsonian Institution.
JOHN MELCHOIR HILL, for many years a prominent figure about the city of Nashville, was born at Lancaster, Pa., April 6, 1797, and died at Nashville Jan. 26, 1870. He was of Dutch descent, and his ancestors were among the colonists who settled in that part of Pennsylvania early in the eighteenth century. His parents, Gottleib and Sarah Hill, were in com- fortable circumstances, and gave their children, four sons and a daugliter, a good education in both English and German. They were members of the Lutheran church, and threw around their children a religious influence which was manifest through their entire lives. The subject of this sketch was the oldest of the family. He was apprenticed at an early age to a German merchant in Lancaster, and was thus introduced to an active business life. At the expiration of his apprenticeship he went to Pittsburg. with the view of making that his future home; but, catching the spirit of adventure which about that time induced many young men to seek their fortunes in the West and South, he, with a number of others, came to Ten- nessee, settling at Pulaski. in Giles county, in 1819. However, he came to Nashville, being then at the age of twenty-two. On July 21, 1824, he was married to Miss Phoebe Thompson, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and descended from one of the pioneer families of that part of the state. Miss Thompson, while a woman of great personal beauty, was yet more noted for her lovely disposition and exemplary character, and for the determined energy and sound judgment with which she aided her husband in his efforts to make his way in the world. Thus encouraged by her, he determined to accumulate a fortune. and applied himself with a resolution and vigor which nothing could daunt. He commenced business in Nashville in a small store on the east side of Market street, about midway between the old Union hall and the public square. Being exact and conscientious in all his dealings, he gained the confidence of
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the community, and his little store was soon filled with cus- tomers. At the end of a few years his business so increased that a larger room became a necessity, and he moved to a building formerly occupied by Porter & Rawlins, using the upper part for a family residence. His business continuing to increase, he soon opened two branch houses, one in charge of Vernon K. Stevenson, and the other in the care of Ralph Martin, both of them young men of good habits and excellent business training. Mr. Hill then formed a partnership with Maj. Joseph Vaulx and James J. Gill, and went into an exten- sive auction commission business, in a building standing on the ground now occupied by Gray & Kirkman's hardware store. There being at that time but two or three small jobbing houses in Nashville, large amounts of merchandise sent out from the East found their way into the hands of country merchants through this house of Mr. Hill's. Having accumulated a handsome fortune, Mr. Hill retired from active business in 1845, and was succeeded by his brothers-in-law. George and Charles Thompson. This step was, however, ever afterward a matter of regret to him, he often saying that "it was far better to wear out than to rust out." But after retiring from business he devoted a great deal of time to religious work. In 1833, during a great revival in Nashville, he joined the Presbyterian church, then in charge of Dr. J. T. Edgar. Under the instructions of this celebrated divine Mr. Hill soon be- came fully as active in the church as he had been in his store. He was earnest and indefatigable in everything, and was fore- most, or among the foremost, in every scheme devised to pro- mote the prosperity of the church. He was soon elected dea- con, and a few years afterward was made a ruling elder. He was most generous in all his donations to benevolent enter- prises and a liberal, though unostentatious, private giver. In his will he bequeathed in trust to the elders of the First Pres- byterian church $20,000, to be used for various benevolent pur- poses. In all respects, Mr. Hill was a good citizen. He never shunned a public duty. As a fireman, in the early days. he was always one of the first at the brakes of the old hand-engine when the alarm of fire was given. As a public officer he al-
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ways labored for the public good. In the days before the war he was a shareholder and a director in all the banks and in- surance companies in the city, and was also among the fore- most in all manufacturing enterprises. He loved his adopted city, and always had a warm place in his heart for her young men. He was a genial host, and liked to have his friends about him. He was a lover of nature and her beauties, and took special delight in the cultivation of flowers. In his old age he was very fond of a quiet day's fishing, and when he went out on an excursion of this kind he always took with him Izaak Walton's "Complete Angler." Mr. Hill was a stern lover of the truth, a man with an inflexible will, and yet with the broadest and kindliest views of men and things. He had a fine intellect, and with proper culture he could have become eminent in any of the learned professions of life.
CHARLES McCLUNG Mc- GHEE, a prominent railroad man of Knoxville, Tenn., was born in Mon- roe county, Tenn., Jan. 23, 1828. His birthplace is near the junction of the Little Tennessee and Tellico rivers, not far from old Fort Lou- don, the first point west of the Al- leghanies settled by the whites. He is a son of John and Betsey (Jones) McGhee. The latter, whose maiden name was McClung, was a niece of Hu Lawson White, United States senator from Tennessee from 1825 to 1840, and a candidate for presidency of the United States in 1836. Mr. McGhee is of Scotch-Irish descent on both sides. His great-grandparents emigrated from Ireland in the middle of the eighteenth century, and settled in Lancaster county, Pa. His grandfather, Barclay McGhee, removed to Blount county, Tenn., and became one of the leading citizens of the state. John McGhee, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born Oct. 15, 1788. He was one of the most successful men of Tennessee, where he followed planting and
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owned 15,000 acres of fine land in the Little Tennessee valley. Charles M. McGhee, the youngest of three children, graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1846. On the death of his father he came into a large inheritance of land and negroes. He married Cornelia White, the great-granddaughter of Gen. James White, founder of Knoxville, and grandniece of Hu Lawson White. When the coming on of the Civil war rendered secluded estates insecure, he removed to Knoxville, cast his lot with the Southern Confederacy, and was commissioned in the staff department on account of delicate health. At the close of the war, without previous training, he went into banking and became president of the People's bank, of Knoxville, which did a safe and successful business under his administration. Later he conceived the idea of controlling the disjoined rail- ways in Tennessee, and by securing the co-operation of finan- ciers, he became actively engaged in developing the mineral, coal and railroad interests of East Tennessee. He built a rail- road to give the city of Knoxville direct communication with Cincinnati, and in a few years he and his associates had con- solidated the various roads running out of Knoxville into the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia railroad, which has given to that part of the state a good system. He retired from active business about ten years ago, after acquiring a fortune by his enterprise and foresight. In 1875 he was elected to the legis- lature as a Democrat, and served two years, but has since then refused office. For years he was president of the Knoxville & Ohio, and of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad companies, and was constantly a director of the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia railroad. He is now a director in the Texas & Pa- cific and the Cincinnati, Jackson & Mackinaw railroads, and has been connected with many of the railways developed in the South since the war. This connection required him to pass much of his time in New York City, and he removed there in 1886. He is one of the most influential of the colony of enterprising Southerners whose financial interests have drawn them to that metropolis. In June, 1892, Mr. McGhee ac- cepted the senior receivership of the great system of lines which had been consolidated into the East Tennessee, Virginia &
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Georgia railroad. He has made many large donations to public objects in recent years, among them being the Lawson-McGhee library building, which was erected as a memorial to a deceased · · daughter. He has been a constant benefactor to St. John's Orphanage, and has bestowed large sums in the way of charity. Wherever known his name is a synonym for inflexible honesty.
JAMES W. BLACKMORE, a lawyer of considerable promi- nence, of Gallatin, Tenn., was born in Sumner county, where he still resides, in the year 1843. His father, William M. Blackmore, was also a native of Tennessee; was for twenty years a clerk and master in chancery; enlisted in the war with Mexico as captain of Company I, First Tennessee infantry ; fought with Taylor at Monterey and with Scott at Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo; was elected to the legislature in 1848; ap- pointed brigadier-general of militia in 1849; served as grand master of the Tennessee Odd Fellows, and died in 1853. The first of the family in Tennessee was George Dawson Black- more, the grandfather of James W. He was a native of Mary- land; served in the Second Virginia regiment during the Revo- lution; was captured by the British and kept a prisoner at Charleston, S. C., until the close of hostilities, and settled in Tennessee in 1784. On the maternal side the mother of James W. Blackmore was Rachel Jackson Barry, daughter of Red- man D. Barry, a surgeon in the British navy, afterward a resident of North Carolina and still later of Kentucky. He read law with Attorney-General Breckenridge and practiced law at Gallatin for more than a quarter of a century. James W. Blackmore was educated at the Gallatin academy and Cen- ter college, Danville, Ky. In 1861 he left school to enlist in Company I, Second Tennessee infantry, commanded by Col. W. B. Bate. He fought at the first Manassas, Shiloh, Chick- amauga, Richmond and Perryville, Ky., Murfreesboro, Mis- sionary Ridge, all the engagements of the Hundred Days' cam- paign in Georgia. the siege of Atlanta, Jonesboro, Franklin and Nashville, and was surrendered with the army in North Carolina, May 2. 1865. After the war he read law with J. C. Guild and J. J. Turner, and in 1867 graduated from the Cum-
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berland university. Upon graduating he was admitted to the bar and has since then practiced with unvarying success in Gal- latin. For six years, from 1893 to 1899, he was receiver for the Commercial National bank, of Nashville. He is a member of the United Confederate Veterans, and has been president of the Veterans' association of Gallatin. He married Miss Maria Louise Ewing, of Davidson county, who died in March, 1896. He has served the state with ability and faithfulness in both houses of the general assembly.
SAMUEL ELISHA HILL. of Knoxville, Tenn., was born in Union county, of that state. Oct. 6, 1872, and is the son of Isaac Newton and Belle (Helsley) Hill. At the age of four, his mother died, whereupon he was taken to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Garner of the nineteenth district, Knox county, where he spent the greater part of his child- hood days. He secured his primary education in the common schools, afterward attended Friendsville academy, then Carson-Newman college at Jefferson City, and finished his education in the Uni- versity of Tennessee. For ten years he taught in the public schools of Knox county, and at the end of that time was elected magistrate. In 1901 he was elected superintendent of public instruction for Knox county, and was re-elected in 1903. being at the time of his first election the youngest man to ever hold that office in his county. He has 152 schools and 192 teachers under his supervision. Professor Hill has one hobby, and that is for fewer and better equipped schools, with more efficient work, and a term of at least eight months instead of five. He has taken high rank in his profession, and in 1902 was elected president of the State Teachers' association of Tennessee. He is a member of the Tennessee School Officers' association, and chairman of its law committee. He is also a member of the Tennessee Historical society, and financial agent
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of the Tennessee Normal college, at "Fountain City." He be- longs to the Valley Grove Baptist church, and takes an interest in secret societies, especially the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. On Dec. 11, 1899, he was married to Miss Mary Jane Callaway, daughter of Mr. John Q Callaway, a farmer of Knox county.
JONES C. BEENE, a well-known citizen of South Pitts- burg, Tenn., was born in Marion county, of that state, in Sep- tember, 1844. His father. Owen R. Beene, was one of the leading farmers of the county, and was for a number of years chairman of the county court. In 1861, before he had reached his seventeenth birthday, Jones C. Beene enlisted in Company A, Fourth Tennessee Confederate infantry, under Colonel Mc- Murry. That fall the regiment was mustered in at Knox- ville and ordered to Cumberland Gap. During the winter the regiment was in the campaign in Kentucky, fought at Mur- freesboro as a part of Cheatham's division; was later at Chick- amauga, Missionary Ridge, the Hundred Days in Georgia, and various skirmishes of minor importance. During this service young Beene, by his meritorious conduct and ready obedience to his superiors, won the rank of sergeant-major of his regi- ment. After the retreat to Atlanta he fell ill and was sent home on furlough to recuperate. While at home he was cap- tured, taken to Nashville, a charge of murder lodged against him, and he was kept in solitary confinement for over seven months, or until the arrival of Hood's forces before Nashville, when, on the demand of General Cheatham, he was released and exchanged. Still unfit for military service, he tried to reach the Trans-Mississippi department, but the war closed be- fore he succeeded in doing so. After the war he entered the employ of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad Company, and remained with that corporation until 1892, fill- ing various positions of responsibility. In 1892 he became the editor and proprietor of the South Pittsburg Statesman, a weekly paper. Mr. Beene has represented his district in the state senate; has served as mayor of South Pittsburg; has been identified in other capacities with the municipal government ;
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vice-president of the electric light company and a director in the First National bank. In 1865 he was married to Ten- nessee E. Cotnam, of Alabama, and to this marriage there have been born the following children: Joseph C., Russell O., Claude T., Jones C., Jr., Ida Lee, Martha L. and Anna Davis.
SAMUEL TYNDALE WILSON, D. D., president of Maryville college, Maryville, Tenn., was born in Homs, Syria, Feb. 17, 1858, his father at that time being a missionary. His parents selected Maryville college as the place to educate their son, and he graduated from that institution in 1878. He then took up a theological course at the Lane Theological seminary, Cincinnati, and graduated in 1882. For the next two years he was. a missionary to Mexico, but was compelled to leave there on account of failing health. He was at once offered the professorship in English literature at Maryville, and con- tinued as such professor until 1901, combining with that branch the duty of instructor in Spanish. In 1901 he was elected president of Maryville college, and entered upon his duties with an energy which is possible only with one who has given most of his life to an institution, either as student or teacher. Most of the year is spent in teaching and directing the work. but a few months are devoted to travel in the interests of the school. He was offered the presidency of Lane Theological seminary, his theological home, but declined it that he might continue in the work of building up the college with which he has been associated for more than a quarter of a century. The Interior, in referring to his declination of this distinguished honor, said editorially: "The church, though sympathizing with the disappointment of Lane, receives Christian edification from a sight all too rare-the spectacle of a man declining a place of conspicuous honor to remain faithful to his duty at an obscure, far more difficult and less remunerated labor. There are none of us who do not know the meaning of ambition, and therefore none who will believe that it was a light thing for President Wilson to refuse that flattering call. And by our own judgment of the difficulty which we would have had in withstanding the temptation, we shall each pay no small meed
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