USA > Tennessee > Notable men of Tennessee. Personal and genealogical, with portraits, Volume I > Part 26
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of James W., continued to live at Scranton. He was the eldest of the three children, and the other two were born in Ireland. They are John S. Cooper and Mary Ann .(Cooper) Sparkman, wife of Temple Sparkman, a brother of Amanda (Sparkman) Cooper. John S. is engaged in the timber busi- ness with his half-brother, at Quebeck, Tenn. James W. Cooper is a son of his father's second marriage and the second of four children to that union. He was educated in the public schools at Doyle, in White county, and later in the academic and law departments of the University of Ten- nessee. He graduated from the law department, in 1899, with the degree of LL. B .; began the practice of law in Cross- ville ; soon after went to Sparta, where he became one of the firm of Smith, Lansden & Cooper. This partnership continued about a year, when Mr. Cooper withdrew and went to the Knox Abstract Company; remained with that company eight months; then went to Colorado on a prospecting tour for several months; returned Nov. 1, 1901; again engaged in practice at Crossville, where he has since remained. He was elected to the legislature, in 1902, without opposition, the term end- ing in November, 1904. During the contest among L. D. Tyson, W. K. Abernathy, Austin Pea and J. R. Jettson, four opposing candidates for the office of speaker, he was temporary speaker of the house; was chairman of the military committee; secretary of the committee on education, and a member of some half-dozen other committees. On Jan. 2, 1903, he was married to Miss Minnie A. Keys, a native of Crossville and a daughter of W. C. and Margaret (Tabor) Keys, both na- tives of Cumberland county and residents of Crossville. One child, Lyla May, has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cooper. Mrs. Cooper is a member of the Methodist church. Mr. Cooper belongs to the Knights of Pythias; is captain and quarter- master of the staff of W. C. Taton, in the First regiment of infantry, Tennessee National Guard; is one of the popular and rising lawyers of the county; deservedly stands well in the profession, as well as among a large circle of acquaintances, which is continually increasing.
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MAJ. L. V. HAMBY, of the law firm of Cooper & Hamby, a promi- nent attorney and ex-mayor of Cross- ville, Tenn., was born in Sequatchie Valley, Cumberland county, Tenn., Dec. 15, 1881. His parents are Wil- liam A. and Nancy E. (Tollett) Hamby, both natives of the county. The father has been attorney for many years, and has filled the office of county judge two years by ap- pointment and twenty-four years by election. His present term in that office expires in 1910. He is a Democrat, and has been elected in a Republican county which has a vote in their favor of nearly two to one. Before being elected judge he filled several county offices. His parents were Andrew and Elmira (Prophet) Hamby, who came from North Carolina in the early forties. They had eight children, of whom three are living: Thomas, a farmer, of the county; William A. and James A., who resides in California. Judge Hamby is sixty-three years old and his wife fifty-two, and they reside in Crossville. Major Hamby attended the com- - mon schools, and after reaching a proper age read law with several different firms, and later attended the University of Tennessee. He was admitted to the bar, in 1894, under Judge B. M. Webb. Soon after his admission, he became connected with the newspaper business, and followed that for several years, first in Crossville and later in Chattanooga, where he was identified with the News. He was also special corre- spondent for several papers, and followed the business, from time to time, until 1899. He also engaged in civil engineering for some ten months of the time; was for two years in Iowa, where he was cashier for the Bank of Sexton for eight months, and practiced law in Wesley. Upon returning from Iowa, he re-entered the ranks of attorneys, and has practiced con- tinuously since. Major Hamby was chosen as the second mayor of Crossville, in December, 1902; held the office one term, and declined to be a candidate for re-election. He is a
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gentleman of good address and talent, and made a good mayor, but preferred to devote his time and energy to the law. Mr. Hamby is a Royal Arch Mason and a past high priest of the chapter; is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, and is secretary of the local lodge, and belongs to the Knights of Pythias, in which he is keeper of the records and seal. On July 10, 1903, he was commissioned as major of the Third battalion of the First regiment of infantry, Tennes- see National Guard. The battalion is composed of four com- panies, located at Crossville, Harriman, Monterey and Sparta. He comes from a good family, one of the oldest and most respected in that section, and is a great believer in the pos- sibilities of his town, which compares most favorably with any town in the number of reliable, worthy, substantial citizens who claim Crossville as their abode. He was married, June 26, 1895, to Miss Flora S. Colby, a native of Cook county, Ill., the marriage taking place in Chattanooga. Her father passed away many years ago, and her mother is Mrs. Mary A. Colby, of Hartley, Ia. Major and Mrs. Hamby had one child, Stitzel J. The wife and mother died in September, 1898, at the age of twenty-one.
P. D. SIMS, M. D., for more than a generation one of the best known and most popular physicians of the city of Chat- tanooga, Tenn., was born in Jackson county, of that state, in 1828. His father, Martin Sims, was a farmer, of Virginia ancestry, and was an old resident of White county. Doctor Sims received his general education in the Alpine institute, under the instruction of Prof. J. L. Beveridge, afterward governor of Illinois. After completing the course in this in- stitution, he engaged in teaching for a time, reading medicine as opportunity offered in the meantime. He then read medicine with Doctor Brockett, of Sparta, and in 1856 was graduated from the medical department of the University of Nashville. Since that time he has been engaged in the practice of his profession, always keeping fully abreast of the times in new methods and discoveries relating to his chosen calling. Dur- ing the war, he acted as contract surgeon while the Con-
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federates occupied Chattanooga. After the return of peace, he took an active part in the organization of the State Medical society, and in 1888 served as its president. He is also a mem- ber of the American Health association, the National Prison association, and the American Academy of Political and Social Science. In 1873 he was elected mayor of Chattanooga, and enjoys the distinction of being the first Democrat to hold that office after the war. When the yellow fever epidemic struck the city, he was the medical director of the volunteer corps, and in that capacity rendered valuable service to his fel- low-townsmen. Doctor Sims was married, in 1857, to Miss Mary F. Randall, daughter of David Randall, of Nashville, and three of the children born to this union are living: Elizabeth, the wife of S. R. Read, of Chattanooga; Thomas M., a civil engineer in the employ of the Chattanooga Southern Railroad Company, and Ella.
MONTREVILLE D. SMALLMAN, a prominent mem- ber of the legal profession, of McMinnville, Tenn., was born in Van Buren county, Tenn., in 1838. He is descended from good old Virginia stock, his father, William G. Smallman, being a native of that state. M. D. Smallman was educated at Burritt college, after which he took up the study of law. Before he had been admitted to the bar, he laid aside his books to enlist in the Twenty-fifth Tennessee infantry, in which he was commissioned first lieutenant. While in this capacity, he fought at Fishing Creek and Farmington, and when the army was reorganized, at Corinth, he returned home, where he as- sisted in the organization of the Eighth Tennessee cavalry, commanded by Col. G. G. Dibrell, and when the regiment was complete Mr. Smallman was made adjutant. He served with Forrest's command, taking part in all the battles and . skirmishes in which his regiment was engaged, until the spring of 1864, when he was taken prisoner, and was so held until June, 1865. After the war, he resumed his studies, and in 1867 was admitted to practice. He practiced at Smithville until 1881, when he removed to McMinnville. In 1881 he was elected to the state senate, where he made an honorable record,
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and in 1886 was elected circuit judge. As a judicial officer, he became equally as distinguished as a legislator, and at the close of his first term as judge was re-elected. Judge Small- man was married, in 1868, to Miss Cordelia Magness, and four of the children born to this marriage are still living: Lillian, Frederick W., general manager for the state of Vir- ginia of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, with offices at Richmond; Ernest, in the hardware business at Waco, Texas, and John, an attorney, at Chattanooga. The mother of these children died in 1893.
JAMES P. SMARTT, senior member of the firm of Smartt Bros. & Co., wholesale dealers in boots and shoes, Chattanooga, Tenn., was born at Smartt, Warren county, Tenn., Sept. 11, 1844, and .is of Scotch-Irish descent. His father, George M. Smartt, after whom the town was named, represented Warren county in the legislature, in 1857, and took an important part in the development of its material resources. In the fall of 1862, James P. Smartt, then but eighteen years of age. enlisted in Company C, Sixteenth Ten- nessee infantry, which entered the Confederate service as a part of General Bragg's command and received its baptism of fire in the battle of Murfreesboro, in December following his enlistment. After that he was in the Tullahoma campaign, in all the military operations around Chattanooga, including Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge, most of the engage- ments of the Atlanta campaign, and later at Franklin and Nashville. He was slightly wounded at Murfreesboro and again at Chickamauga, but otherwise passed through the war uninjured. After the war was over, he attended school until he completed his education, taught for a year in the Hannah Highland college, and then traveled for several years as a salesman for different wholesale houses of Nashville. Later he became a partner in a wholesale hat house, at Nashville, and remained there until in June, 1875, when he came to Chattanooga and embarked in business for himself as a retail dealer in boots and shoes. Ten years later the firm of Smartt Bros. & Co. was organized, with him as the head, and the
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house has a standing in commercial circles second to none in the South. Besides his wholesale interests, Mr. Smartt has been a director and vice-president of the Third National bank and a director of the Chattanooga Savings bank, and is a. member of the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Smartt is active in the work of the United Confederate Veterans, and assisted in the Confederate work of the Chickamauga National Military Park commission.
CHELIUS C. BENEFIELD, general manager of the Southern Land and Investment Company, Crossville, Tenn., was born in Chat- tooga county, Ga., Oct. 17, 1867, and is the son of William Hardy and Mary A. (Hill) Benefield, both born in Walton county, Ga., the father on May 18, 1826, and the mother on July 1, 1830. She is a cousin to Senator Ben Hill. The paternal great-grandfather, William Benefield, ' was one of two brothers who came over from England with James Oglethorpe, in 1733. His son, Hardy, the grandfather of Chelius, settled in Georgia at an early day, and there lived to be over 100 years old. On the maternal side, the grand- parents were Carter and Jane (Hosch) Hill. He was a dis- tinguished Mason, a lodge in Walton county being named in his honor. His wife was a Hollander. William H. Benefield, the father of the subject of this sketch, and his wife, still live at Summerville, Ga., where he is interested in agricultural pur- suits. In 1862 he enlisted as a non-commissioned officer in Company I, Fourth Georgia, Wheeler's cavalry, and served until captured at Kingston, Tenn. He was taken as a prisoner to Rock Island, Ill., where he was one of the detail to put the island in good condition, for which he received pay. He had small-pox while in the army, and afterward assisted those stricken with the dread disease. He and his wife have nine children, all living: James C., a minister of the Christian
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church, at Mount Enterprise, Tex .; Tabitha, now Mrs. T. J. Fitts, of Rusk county, Tex .; Nancy Elizabeth, Mrs. Caleb Wilder, also living in Rusk county; William Hardy, a farmer and engineer, at Cope, Tenn .; Mary A., Mrs. P. K. Northcut, of Spencer, Tenn .; Elzora, Mrs. Edw. Tucker, of Chattooga county, Ga., where he is interested in fruit culture; Chelius C., the subject of this sketch; Tennie M., wife of E. H. Wood- ley, a farmer, of Warren county, Tenn., and Alice, now Mrs. Douglass Boss, living in Rusk county, Tex. Chelius C. Bene- field received his education in the public schools and at Ter- rell college, where he lacked three months of receiving the degree of B. S. Before going to college, he taught, and after- ward he followed the same vocation at Nockenut, Tex., and later in both Georgia and Tennessee. Altogether, ten years of his life was passed in the school-room. He then took up surveying, and for four years was surveyor of Warren county,
Tenn. Early in 1902 he came to Crossville, as superin- tendent of the Tennessee Coal and Lumber Company, the stockholders of which were capitalists of Cleveland, Pitts- burg and New York. After one year in this position, he re- signed and organized the Southern Land and Investment Com- pany, of which he is general manager. He is also director in the Monarch Coal Mining Company; superintendent of the Crossville Lumber Company; a heavy dealer in real estate, and still does something at his profession of civil engineer- ing. He is also interested in a proposed railroad to run from Louisville to Chattanooga, to open up some of the coal and timber lands of Tennessee. In 1896 Mr. Benefield was nomi- nated for state senator from the forty-second district of Geor- gia, but declined the honor. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and with his wife belongs to the Christian church. On July 4, 1894, he was married to Miss Belle Woodlee. daughter of Greer Woodlee, of Warren county, and they have four children: Myrtle May, Bessie Belle, Ralph Clinton and Glidden Ross.
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DAVID SULLINS, D. D., for a number of years presi- dent of the Centenary Female college, Cleveland, Tenn., was born in McMinn county, Tenn., July 28, 1827. His parents were Nathan and Rebecca (Mitchell) Sullins, the former a native of Virginia, who came in his youth with his parents to Tennessee, and the latter the daughter of Rev. Morris Mitchell, one of the pioneer Methodist ministers of East Tennessee. They were married in Knox county, and soon afterward re- moved to McMinn county, where Nathan Sullins became a prosperous farmer and stock raiser. It was upon this farm that David was born and that his early life was passed. After the ordinary common school education, he attended Forest Hill academy, near Athens, for a year, and in 1850 graduated from Emory and Henry college. The same year he joined the Hols- ton conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and soon became active in promoting the work of his chosen denom- ination. In 1853 he became president of the Odd Fellows' Female college, at Jonesboro, Tenn., a position which he held for five years. During the next two years he was engaged in the work of the ministry, at Chattanooga and Knoxville. When the Nineteenth Tennessee, Confederate infantry, was or- ganized, he was made chaplain and later became the chaplain of Breckenridge's division. After the war, he was elected presi- dent of Wytheville Virginia Female college, which office he continued to administer for three years, when he removed to Bristol, Tenn., and founded Sullins college, remaining at the head of the institution until 1880, when he was elected presi- dent of Emory and Henry college. In 1885 he was persuaded to take the presidency of the Centenary Female college, at Cleveland, and during the years of his administration the in- stitution prospered, new buildings were erected at a cost of many thousands of dollars, and the attendance made a most satisfactory growth. In 1855 he was married to Ann Re- becca, daughter of John Blair, of Jonesboro, Tenn., and their two sons and two daughters are all college graduates and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.
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LEONIDAS D'ENTRECAS- TEAUX SMITH, of Crossville, Tenn., attorney for the Granite Realty and Investment Company, the Clear Creek Coal Company and the Bon-Air Coal and Iron Company, was born in White county, of that state, Nov. 25, 1866. He is a son of W. G. and Amanda R. (Templeton) Smith, the former a native of North Carolina, who came to Tennessee in an early day, and the latter of White county. W. G. Smith was born Sept. 25, 1828. In early life he was a gilder by trade, and assisted in putting the gilding and moldings on the state capitol of Tennessee. After that, he was for some time engaged in merchandizing at Cave, in White county. In 1861 he enlisted in and was made captain of Company C, Twenty-fifth Tennessee infantry. His first battle was at Fishing Creek, Ky., where General Zollicoffer was killed. After that he was at Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, in the Atlanta campaign, and, so far as known, in all the battles participated in by his command. When the final sur- render came, he was lieutenant-colonel of his regiment. At the close of the war, he took up mercantile pursuits and also operated a tannery, until 1875, when he began the study of law, and three years later was admitted to the bar. He at once began the practice of his profession; was appointed clerk of the circuit court, in 1882; elected to that office, in 1884; held the position for six years and then began the practice of law at Sparta. Colonel Smith is well and favorably known over the state; has held the position of general of the Re- union brigade of Confederate soldiers since the death of Gen- eral Dibrell, in 1888; has been a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for years, in which he has been grand patriarch of the encampment and a represen- tative in the Tennessee Grand Lodge several times. He is also a Royal Arch Mason, and he and his wife are members of the Christian church. In recent years, he has largely re-
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tired from the practice of law, and is giving most of his atten- tion to his farniing interests. George C. Smith, the grand- father of the subject of this sketch, was a tailor by trade, and worked in the same shop for a time with Andrew Johnson. He and his wife, whose maiden name was Gooch, were from North Carolina; came to Tennessee about 1845, and settled in Rutherford county; later went to Warren county; then to White county, where he died at the age of seventy, and she at the age of seventy-two. Both were Presbyterians, and he was an
elder in the church. They had a large family, of which there are four survivors : Rev. James D., a minister of the Baptist church, residing at Eaglesville; Nellie, his sister, residing with him; Mrs. Sallie Cole, residing in Texas, and Col. W. G. Smith, already mentioned. On the maternal side, Amanda R. Templeton was the daughter of William and Lydia (Anderson ) Templeton, and was born Sept. 24, 1836. Her parents were from North Carolina, but came, in the early part of the nine- teenth century, to White county, Tenn., where her father became a farmer on a large scale. His father was John Tem- pleton, a farmer and a native of North Carolina, who came to Tennessee in a very early day, and died in White county. He was a soldier of the Revolution, and took part in the battle of King's Mountain. Leonidas D. Smith is the third of seven children born to W. G. and Amanda Smith. The others are: Marcusette, now Mrs. John H. Eagle, of Sparta, where her husband is manager of the flour-mill; W. T. Smith, appointed to the bench by Governor Turney and who was judge of the fifth circuit for twelve years, resigning in the second year of his second term to resume the practice of law at Sparta; Corinne, wife of Clay Reeves, clerk of the circuit court, at Gainsboro; Sallie, wife of Rodney Stevens, a grain and cattle buyer, of Plano, Tex .; Enzina D., wife of T. K. Williams, cashier of the People's bank, at Sparta; George C., a stenog- rapher in his brother's office, at Sparta. Leonidas D. Smith was educated in the common schools; entered the literary department of the University of Tennessee, and remained to his senior year; then entered Doyle college, where he received the degree of A.B., in 1886, which was the first degree the 1-21
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college had ever issued, and he was the only graduate that year. The following year he took up the study of law in his father's office; later read under Col. H. C. Snodgrass, at Sparta; was admitted to the bar in December, 1888; began practice at Cookeville as one of the firm of Snodgrass & Smith, the senior member being H. C. Snodgrass, congressman from the third district; formed a partnership with his father, in 1892, as W. G. Smith & Son; this continued until 1896, when he again became a partner of Mr. Snodgrass, practicing at Dayton, Tenn. While at Dayton, Mr. Smith was elected as a delegate from the fourth congressional district to the Demo- cratic national convention of 1896, that nominated Hon. W. J. Bryan for the presidency. After some time at Dayton, he returned to Sparta, and again became a partner with his father, which continued until 1899. when he became a member of the firm of Robinson, Smith & Lansden, at Crossville. Among their clients was the Cumberland Coal and Coke Company. In 1900 Mr. Robinson retired, but Smith and Lansden continued as partners until 1902, when Mr. Lansden was elected chan- cellor. Mr. Smith practiced alone until the following year. In 1903 he formed a partnership with his brother, Judge W. T. Smith, and his father, at Sparta and Crossville, under the firm name of Smith & Smith. Leonidas D. Smith was never a candidate for office in his life, but takes an active interest in the fortunes of the Democratic party. He was married, Nov. 25, 1888, to Miss Ella Wallace, a native of White county and daughter of S. D. and Laura (Stevens) Wallace. Her father died in 1903. He was a member of the Christian church and sixty-five years old. His wife resides on the home place, and is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith: Killah Corinne and Leonidas Ucal. The latter was born Dec. 9, 1892, and died Oct. 9, 1897. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the Christian church. He is a Royal Arch Mason, a member of both subordinate lodge and encampment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias.
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JOHN F. McNUTT, general at- torney and land agent for the Cum- berland Coal and Coke Company and the Crawford Coal and Iron Com- pany, Crossville, Tenn., was born at Kingston, Roane county, Tenn., July 20, 1859, and there remained until he reached his nineteenth year. After a time spent in Central Amer- ica, where he was engaged in rail- road construction work for the gov- ernment of Guatemala, he returned to his native state and accepted a position as principal of Rit- tenhouse academy. While thus employed he studied law with the well-known law firm of Sevier & Welcker, one of the lead- ing law firmns of the state, and in September, 1887, he obtained a license to practice, from the supreme court, while it was in session at Knoxville. He immediately entered upon the prac- tice of his profession, at Rockwood, and soon had the satis- faction of being rewarded by a large and lucrative general practice. Among his clients were the Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific Railway Company and the East Ten- nessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad Company, now the South- ern Railway. He continued to act as attorney for these two great corporations until January, 1899, when he became the general attorney for the Tennessee Central Railway Company: and removed to Crossville, in order to be more conveniently situated for his work with that company and its allied corpora- tions, the Cumberland Coal and Coke Company and the Craw- ford Coal and Iron Company. At present, he devotes his entire time to the two last-named corporations, which have large tracts of timber and mineral lands along the lines of the Tennessee Central, as well as profitable holdings in the plateau section of the state. During the incumbency of Hon. Benton McMillin, as governor of the state, Mr. McNutt was a member of the gubernatorial staff, and was appointed to serve as a member of the Tennessee commission for the Louisiana Purchase exposi- tion, at St. Louis, in 1904. In this work he took an active
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