USA > Tennessee > Notable men of Tennessee. Personal and genealogical, with portraits, Volume I > Part 5
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ARCHIBALD ROANE, second governor of Tennessee, who succeeded John Sevier in 1801 and served for two years, was born in what is now Dauphin county, Pa., in 1760, his parents being Andrew and Margaret (Walker) Roane. Andrew Roane came with his brother, Rev. John Roane, from Ireland in 1736 and settled in that part of Pennsylvania known as Done- gal and Derry, afterward called Lancaster, and still later Dau- phin county. He died in 1768, leaving four children, of whom Archibald was the eldest, to the guardianship of his brother. A clause in John Roane's will some years later provided a legacy of twenty pounds for his nephew, Archibald Roane, towards completing his college education. The young man became a student at Lancaster, but left college to join the Con- tinental army, with which he fought valiantly until the close of the war, being present at the surrender of Cornwallis. After the government of the United States was established he studied law and removed to Tennessee, where he was admitted to the bar and soon became one of the most noted of the pioneer attorneys. Shortly after his admission he was appointed dis- trict attorney-general and was a member of the convention that framed the constitution in 1796. In ISO1 he was elected governor, served two years and was a candidate for re-elec- tion, but was defeated by Governor Sevier, whom he had suc- ceeded two years before. While he was governor he cast the deciding vote that elected Andrew Jackson major-general of the Tennessee militia. After retiring from the governor's office he engaged in teaching for a time, Hugh Lawson White, who was afterward a candidate for president of the United States, having been one of his pupils. In ISII he was ap- pointed one of the superior court judges of law and equity, which is the last record of his appearance in any official ca-
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pacity. He married Ann Campbell, daughter of David and Mary ( Hamilton) Campbell, of Campbell's Station. To this marriage there were born six children. Governor Roane died at his home near Campbell's Station, in January, 1817. His wife died in 1831. He was an able lawyer, a conscientious statesman and an influential citizen. The county of Roane was named in his honor.
PROF. WILLIAM C. KILVING- TON, of Nashville, Tenn., superin- tendent of the State Industrial school, was born in England, Feb. 24, 1839, and was raised in Canada. His father, Thomas Kilvington, was a landscape gardener and florist. ยท Pro- fessor Kilvington was educated in Canada and New York, and after leaving school took up his father's vocation and followed it for a time. In 1865 he became connected with a Chicago school of reformation and found in this line of work a calling that was congenial to him and for which he was well fitted by nature. In 1866 he went from Chicago to Louisville, where he was for several years assistant superin- tendent of the House of Refuge. He was then assistant super- intendent of the Iowa Reform school for three years; held the same position in the school at Lancaster. O., for a similar length of time; was at the Indiana Reform school for four years in the same capacity; spent two years in a Pennsylvania school and was elected superintendent of the Massachusetts School of Reform, but declined it. In December, 1886, he went to Tennessee, where he organized and founded the Tennessee Industrial school. His life has been devoted to this work, and the Tennessee Industrial school is a monument to his ability, being one of the best institutions of the kind in the country from the point of efficiency and work. He was married on March 1, 1888, to Miss Annie L. Lyle, daughter of Dr. A. J. Lyle, one of Nashville's leading physicians, and they
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have two children. Professor Kilvington is one of the most prominent Masons in Tennessee. He has received all the York and Scottish Rite degrees, except the Thirty-third, and is a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a Knight of Pythias, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
JOSEPH MCMINN, the fifth governor of Tennessee, was born in the State of Pennsylvania, of Quaker parentage, but the exact date and place of his birth, as well as many facts relating to his early life, are veiled in obscurity. It is known that he was a soldier in the Continental army during the Revo- lutionary war, and that he was possessed of a good education. Shortly after the Revolution he settled in Hawkins county, Tenn., where he engaged in farming, his wife often helping him in the labors of the field and forest. He was a member of the convention that framed the first constitution of Tennessee, 1796. In 1807 his neighbors sent him to the state senate. His common sense and unflinching honesty commended him to the senate for a presiding officer and he was elected such. His rulings, while in that position, were noted for their fair- ness, the rights of the minority were always respected, and he made acquaintances from all parts of the state that freely spoke of him for greater honor. In 1815 there were five candidates for governor presented to the people for their consideration. Jesse Wharton resigned from the United States senate to be- come a candidate; Robert C. Foster, an ex-speaker of the house in the state legislature, was another candidate; Thomas John- son, who had served in the legislatures of both North Carolina and Tennessee, was the third; Robert Weakley, one of the pioneers of the state, an ex-member of Congress and a dele- gate to the convention to ratify the constitution of the United States, was the fourth. Against this array of prominent men Mr. McMinn entered the field at a late date, upon his own announcement. while all of his opponents sent out circulars implying that they had become candidates at the request of their fellow-citizens. When the votes were counted it was found that he led each of the others by a large majority and was elected. He was twice re-elected, defeating Robert C. Foster
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in 1817 and Enoch Parsons in IS19. His administration was notable for its uprightness and for his recommendations of certain measures in the interest of the masses of the people. The county of McMinn and the little city of McMinnville, in Warren county, tell the story of his popularity with the peo- ple of the state, who have given those names to the places to perpetuate the memory of one of Tennessee's notable men. He died at the Cherokee Agency, Nov. 17, 1824.
ARTHUR S. COLYAR, one of the prominent attorneys of Nashville, Tenn., was born in Washington county, of that state, in 1818, and is the son of Alexander Colyar. He was educated in the schools of the time, meager at best, outside of the principal universities. When about twelve years old, his parents removed to Franklin county, where he con- tinued at school for a time, and then taught for several years. He then took up the study of law with Col. Micah Taul, who had been a distinguished congressman from Kentucky in an early day, and who at that time was a resident of Winchester, Tenn. Mr. Colvar was admitted to the bar in 1846, and practiced law in Winchester until the war broke out, when he was elected to the Confederate Congress and continued a member of that body during its existence. After the war he resumed his prac- tice at Winchester, but having been retained in several very important cases in Nashville, this fact led to his removal to that city in 1867. Since becoming a member of the Nash- ville bar. Mr. Colyar has been one of the leaders in the legal circles of the city. At the time of his removal he was presi- dent of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company. He served in the Tennessee legislature one session in the seventies, but has devoted most of his attention to the law, though he has taken considerable interest, now and then, in the field of journalism. About 1880 he became editor of the Nashville .
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American, and for four or five years successfully occupied that position, then established the News, which he edited for two years, after which he sold the paper and bought the American, which he conducted for some time thereafter as editor. He is a prominent member of the "Round Table" of Nashville, and of the Methodist Episcopal church.
JOSEPH H. THOMPSON, president of the Nashville Trust Company, was born and reared in Davidson county. He is a son of John Thompson, a prominent citizen and native of Davidson county, where he was born in 1793. in a log fort that had been erected as a protection from the Indians. The grandfather, Thomas Thompson, was a North Carolinian who settled in Tennessee in 1780, and entered the land that is now owned by the subject of this sketch. Joseph H. Thompson was educated at the University of Nashville, and in 1875 took the degree of B. L. at Cumberland university at Lebanon. He soon gave up his profession, however, to enter business life in connection with the Nashville Fire and Marine Insurance Com- pany. In 1883 he became president of the company and con- tinued as such for ten years, when the company went into vol- untary liquidation, every stockholder drawing out forty dol- lars for each dollar invested. In 1890 Mr. Thompson was made vice-president of the Nashville Trust Company, which has a capital stock of $350,000, and when he retired from the insurance company he became president of this company and is still its official head. The company owns and occupies one of the city's finest business buildings, recently erected in the center of the business district and fronts on College street. Mr. Thompson is also president of the Morgan-Hamilton Bag Manufacturing Company; the Kempter-Woolune Candy Cracker Company, and of the Webb Manufacturing Company ; is vice-president of the Nashville Gas Company, and he is associated with several other corporations. He was married in 1875 to Miss Ella Vaughn, daughter of Michael Vaughn, an attorney of Nashville. She died in 1896, leaving two daughters. One of them is the wife of Gordon P. Payne, a banker of Baltimore, Md .. and the other is Miss Ida Thomp-
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son. As stated above, Mrs. Thompson died in 1896. and sub- sequently Mr. Thompson was married to Miss Willie Demo- villee of Nashville. He is an elder of the First Presbyterian church of Nashville and a liberal contributor to its good works.
JOHN M. GAUT. a prominent lawyer of Nashville, Tenn., was born in Cleveland, Bradley county of that state, in 1841. His father, John C. Gaut, was a prominent lawyer, judge of the sixth judicial circuit of Ten- nessce for twelve years, and served several times as a special judge of the supreme court. He was a mem- ber of the constitutional convention of, 1865 that reorganized the state government. As a member of the committee on resolutions in that convention, he brought in a minority report opposing the provision disfranchising those who supported the Confederate States government during the Civil war. In 1866 he allied himself with the Conservative party and for two years was the chairman of its state executive com -. mittee. He died at the age of eighty-two years. John M. Gaut was educated in the schools of Cleveland and at Rutgers col- lege, New Brunswick, N. J., from which he graduated in 1866 with the degree of A. B., and where three years later he took the degree of A. M. He then read law in the office of Caruthers & Gaut, and was admitted to the bar in Decem- ber, 1867. He became a member of the law firm of Caruth- ers, Gaut & Caruthers, which continued until 1868, when it was dissolved and was succeeded by the firm of J. C. & J. M. Gaut. The latter firm continued until a few years before the death of the father in 1895, since which time the son has practiced alone. Judge Gaut was, in 1873, elected a mem- ber of the city council of Nashville from the fifth ward, then the principal ward of the city. He was in 1881 appointed by Governor Marks special judge of the supreme court of the state to try special causes. He has been the attorney of the.
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American National bank since its organization in 1883, and was also the attorney of the Safe Deposit Trust and Banking Company during its existence. He was a member of the Ten- nessee State Bar association and of the American Bar asso- ciation. He is a member of the local advisory board of the Peabody College for Teachers, and a member of the board of trustees of the University of Nashville.
Judge Gaut is a Cumberland Presbyterian and since 1866 has been an elder in that church. As chairman of the finance and building committee of the First Cumberland Presbyterian church of Nashville he was mainly instrumental in the plan- ning and erection of its church edifice on Fifth avenue. He was one of the members who organized Grace church, and to him as chairman of its building committee is due more than to any other person the planning and construction of its house of worship on Second and Lindsley avenues. For thirty-one years he was officially connected with the publishing work of the church, being for twenty-one years a member of its board of publication-ten years president of the board and for ten years more the general manager of the publishing work. He was the most zealous and active member of the board. For the twenty-one years of his membership he, without remu- neration, gave a large portion of his time and labor to the pro- motion of its interests. As its representative or as commis- sioner from his Presbytery, sometimes both, he has attended twenty-two sessions of the general assembly. When he became a member in 1870 the board owned no house, employed but one man, published no periodical and only a few books, its total assets being valued at about $10,000.00. When, in 1901, he resigned as general manager, its net assets amounted to $150,000.00, it had sixty-four employees, published ten peri- odicals and books whose names filled a respectable catalogue. It was domiciled in its own magnificent building on Third avenue, which to a great extent he had planned and whose construction his financiering had made possible. He carried the institution with a large indebtedness, often using his own personal credit, through the years of business depression and financial disaster-1893 to 1901-and turned over to his suc-
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cessor a well-equipped establishment, ready for the harvest which has come with the era of prosperity. The profit of the business is rapidly paying off the bonded indebtedness, and the remainder will doubtless be soon extinguished. The church does not fail to realize that it owes this consumma- tion largely, not to say mainly, to the wisdom, the self-sacri- fice and fidelity of this consecrated layman.
By common consent Judge Gaut has been made the inter- preter of ecclesiastical law for the entire denomination. His published opinions would fill a respectable volume. Although he speaks by no official authority, yet because of confidence in him, his decisions have been almost universally accepted as the law, not only by individuals but also by the judicatories of the church. He wrote a long series of published articles on the history of the publishing work, which are soon to be repub- lished in book form. He is also the author of a booklet entitled "Cumberland. the Story of a Name," and has made numerous addresses before different business, educational, civic and ecclesiastical assemblages. He originated the movement which resulted in the purchase by Davidson county, Tenn., of the 147 miles of toll roads in the county at the price of $250,- 000.00. The success of the movement was largely due to his intelligent and well-directed efforts, his systematic organiza- tion of forces and his persistent industry. On Jan. 1, 1902, toll roads in that county became a thing of the past, and on the 20th of that month Judge Gaut made an address com- memorative of the event before an audience composed of the Economic league, the Chamber of Commerce and the Retail Merchants' association, of the city of Nashville, in which he reviewed the whole proceeding, modestly depreciating his own efforts and giving full credit to his associates. His audience, however, knew the part he had played and admired the man as much for his lack of assumption in announcing the victory, as for his earnestness and skilful management during the con- test. The example of Davidson county is being followed by other counties and it is probable that in a year or two there will not be a county in the state which does not enjoy the bless- ing of free public roads. With the desire for free roads has.
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also come the desire for better ones, and the counties are spending millions of dollars in constructing improved high- ways.
Judge Gaut has been twice married; first in ISto to Miss Michal M. Harris, daughter of W. O. Harris. She died in 1871 and in 1876 he was married to Miss Sallie Crutchfield, daughter of Tom Crutchfield, one of the leading men of Ham- ilton county. Tenn., one of the leading agriculturalists of the state and a member of the state bureau of agriculture. They have three children : Mrs. Kendrick C. Hardcastle, whose hus- band has charge of the long distance department of the Cum- berland Telephone and Telegraph Company, and Misses Sarah M. and Mary A. Gaut. Their first-born, Thomas C. Gaut, who gave promise of a splendid phyical, intellectual and moral manhood, was stricken down at about eight years of age by a malignant attack of diphtheria.
ALBERT SMITH MARKS, who was governor of Ten- nessee from 1879 to 1881, was born at Owensboro, Ky., Oct. 16, 1836, and died at Nashville, Tenn., Nov. 4, 1891. One of his ancestors, John Marks, was an early settler in Virginia and the family lived in the immediate vicinity of Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. On the maternal side, his grand- mother was a member of the Daniel family, which has played so important a part in the history of the "Old Dominion," and of which United States Senator John W. Daniel is a fine example. When Governor Marks was about fourteen years of age his father died, which compelled him to give up school and assist his mother in the support of the family. But there was that inherent force of character in him that would not be defeated by anything like ordinary difficulties. Spending all the time he could spare from his labors in study he acquired an education that was tried several times during his career but was always found equal to the emergency. When nearing his majority he turned his attention to the law, although it had been the dearest wish of his parents that he should become a minister. He entered the office of Col. A. S. Colyar, who was a relative, at Winchester, Tenn., and in 1858 was admitted to
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the bar. He began his professional life as a member of the firm of Colvar, Marks & Frizzell, which lasted until 1861, when Mr. Frizzell withdrew and the firm became Colvar & Marks. This arrangement did not continue very long, how- ever, for the breaking out of the Civil war dissolved the firm. Governor Marks was a supporter of Breckenridge and Lane in 1860 and was strenuously opposed to secession. When the con- vention to deliberate on the question was called he was the Union candidate for delegate in his district, but was defeated by Peter Turney, afterward governor of the state. When the people of Tennessee voted to take the state out of the Union he stood by that decision, enlisted in the Confederate service, was elected captain and rapidly promoted until he became colo- nel of the Seventeenth Tennessee infantry. At the battle of Murfreesboro, Dec. 31, 1862, Colonel Marks fell while leading a charge against a battery. but as he fell urged his men on to victory. The result of this wound was the amputation of his leg and a long siege in the hospital. When he recov- ered he was attached to the staff of General Forrest as judge advocate and served in this capacity until the close of the war. The old partnership of Colyar & Marks was resumed, but it was broken about two years later by the removal of Colonel Colvar to Nashville. Governor Marks then became associated with James B. Fitzpatrick and T. D. Gregory and practiced thus until 1870. when he was elected chancellor of the fourth division and was re-elected without opposition in August, 1878. His service during his second term was of short duration, for in November, 1878, he was elected gov- ernor of Tennessee. At the time of his inauguration the politi- cal situation was anything but assuring. The question of the state debt had disrupted party lines and the new governor faced two contending factions, one in favor of maintaining the state's credit at any cost and the other in favor of repudia- tion. The former of these factions was in a hopeless minority and the latter very large and somewhat unreasonable in its demands. In this trying situation Governor Marks did the wisest thing it was possible for him to do. He declined to accept the views of either of the contending factions, adopted
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a conservative attitude on the question, and in the next Demo- cratic State convention wrote the platform which pledged the party to carry out the will of the people. This threw the respon- sibility on the people themselves and they began to see the wis- dom of the governor's course. At this convention Governor Marks declined a renomination. He was succeeded by Gov- ernor Hawkins. In ISSS Governor Marks was a delegate to the Democratic National convention from the state at large and continued active in the practice of law and in political work until the time of his death. He was married in 1863 to Miss Novella Davis, daughter of Maj. John R. Davis, of Wilson county. The marriage took place in Marshall county, at the home of Miss Davis's uncle, J. M. Knight, for the rea- son that her home was inside the Federal lines. The wife and two sons survived the death of Governor Marks, but one of the sons died within a year after his father.
JAMES M. HEAD. attorney and ex-mayor of Nashville, Tenn., was born in Sumner county, of that state, July 25, 1855. His father was Dr. J. M. Head, a prominent physi- cian of Sumner county and a mem- ber of the legislature in 1861. He was surgeon of the Thirty-Fourth Tennessee regiment; was captured at Fort Donelson and held as a prisoner at Camp Chase until near the close of the war. James M. was grad- uated in the schools of Gallatin and from the law department of Harvard university. He attended the lectures, took the course and graduated in one year with the class of 1876, receiv- ing the degree of B. L. He began practice in Gallatin with S. F. Wilson. now of the court of appeals, under the firm name of Wilson & Head. and this partnership lasted until 1883. In 1881 and 1883 Mr. Head represented his county in the legislature and then located in Nashville, where he became associated with S. H. Champion as the junior member of the
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firm of Champion & Head. This partnership was dissolved by the election of Mr. Head to the mayoralty of Nashville, in October, 1899. He was re-elected in 1901 without oppo- sition. and at the expiration of his second term resumed his law practice. In his address to the city council upon his retire- ment from office he summed up the work done during the four years of his administration in a way that showed he fully understands the municipal problems of the day. In that four years Nashville made great strides forward in the way of per- manent improvements, streets, sewers, etc., demonstrating that it pays a city to elect live, progressive men to the office of chief . executive. In 1887 he was appointed by Governor Taylor a member of the board of directors of the Industrial School of Tennessee and since 1895 he has been president of the board. Here as in the office of mayor the high order of his execu- tive ability readily determines the best solution of the problems as they arise, while his inflexible integrity stands as a bulwark against extravagance in management or peculation in office. Mr. Head is one of those Democrats who do not know how to sur- render. He has served as a member of the state central commit- tee and since 1896 has been Tennessee's member of the national committee. When a political contest begins his superb qualifica- tions as an organizer are called into play and few councils of the party leaders are held at which he is not present. Although a partisan on all questions pertaining to public policy he has hosts of Republican friends because of his genial dispo- sition and general good-fellowship. He is a prominent figure in the Knights of Pythias and is director of the work in Lodge No. 185. of Nashville. In 1885 he was united in marriage to Miss Minnie, daughter of the late W. H. Cherry, of the firm of Cherry, Morrow & Co., manufacturers of the celebrated Ten- nessee wagon.
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