USA > Tennessee > Notable men of Tennessee. Personal and genealogical, with portraits, Volume II > Part 26
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vania university, of that city; held the office of captain in the State Guards, in the Civil war, although still in his teens, and after the death of his father was engaged in running a blast furnace at Mt. Savage, Ky. He then turned his attention to railroad contracting, and assisted in the construction of the old Kentucky Central, now the Chesapeake & Ohio, and other lines. Going west, he was successfully interested in real estate ven- tures, and in 1890 came to LaFollette, where he was one of the chief promoters of the old LaFollette Land and Improvement Company, now the LaFollette Coal, Iron and Railway Com- pany. In 1895 he brought his family to LaFollette, and in 1897 was elected the first mayor of the city, serving one term. He died Dec. 27, 1900, in his fifty-fourth year. On the maternal side, Bettie H. Hocker was born in Lincoln county, Ky., in 1851, her parents being James and Harriet (Morrison) Hocker. They now reside in Lexington, and celebrated their golden wed- ding in 1901. The mother is a Daughter of the Revolution, and the father built the Hocker college, now the Hamilton Female institute. Of their five children, four are yet living. Mrs. Warner being one of the survivors. She resides in La- Follette. The children of Evan T. and Bettie H. Warner are as follows: Bettie, wife of Prof. J. H. Kastle, professor of chemistry in the University of Kentucky; Hattie Hocker, now Mrs. Dr. W. C. Hobdy, her husband being a surgeon in the marine service, in charge of the quarantine station at Honolulu ; Evan T., Jr .; Logan Hocker, now Mrs. Dr. I. J. Shepherd, her husband being a physician in the hospital at LaFollette, and Katherine, wife of Hon. H. M. LaFollette, the founder of the city that bears his name. Evan T., Jr., was educated in the public schools of his native city, and later he attended the Ken- tucky State university there. After leaving school, he came to LaFollette in 1895 and for a time was engaged in agricultural pursuits. He then became connected with the LaFollette Coal. Iron and Railway Company, as assistant treasurer, which posi- tion he still holds. In 1902 he was appointed postmaster by President Roosevelt, but the increase in the volume of business placed the office in the third class and on Jan. 1, 1903, he was reappointed. He has inherited many of the business qualifica-
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tions of his father, as may be seen in his management of the postoffice, which is conducted on the most approved lines, and in the business of his position as treasurer of a great and growing · corporation. On Sept. 5, 1900, Mr. Warner was married to Miss Rosetta Loos, a granddaughter of Charles Lewis Loos, president of the Kentucky university, at Lexington. To this marriage there have been born three children: Evan, who died at the age of eight months; Mary Logan and William Taylor. Both parents are members of the Christian church.
JESSE N. BROOKS, justice of the peace and prominent business man of Jellico, Tenn., was born in Whit- ley county, Ky., Sept. 11, 1857. His father, Thomas J. Brooks, was born in Virginia, in 1824, and came with his parents to Whitley county in his childhood, where he followed the vo- cation of a farmer all his life. His death occurred Feb. 10, 1898. parents were Nathan and Polly Brooks, typical old-time Virginians.
His They were among the pioneers of Campbell county, where they lived to a good old age and reared a family of nine sons and one daughter, all of whom have joined the silent majority. On the maternal side, the mother of Mr. Brooks was Elizabeth Lay. a daughter of Isaac and Catherine Lay. Her father was mar- ried six times. By his six marriages he had a numerous family of children. Elizabeth Lay Brooks was born in 1825 and died July 1, 1900. «Jesse N. is one of a family of twelve children : Nancy E., now Mrs. Joseph Dix, of Campbell county; Polly Ann, who died single at the age of twenty-one years ; John W., a Baptist minister, of Whitley county, Ky .; Susan, Mrs. Jesse Lay, of Whitley county; William and James, both died in infancy ; Jesse N., the subject of this sketch; Elizabeth, who also died young; Lucy Catherine, Mrs. Pryor L. Perkins, of Mad- ison county, Ark .; Esther, who died in childhood; Thomas J., a farmer, of Whitley county, and George I., engaged in mining
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operations. Jesse N. Brooks received his education in the com- mon schools and then worked upon a farm until he reached his majority, when he learned the carpenter trade and followed it for four years. He then went into the employ of Perkins & Smith, general merchants and real estate dealers, as a clerk, and has continued with that firm ever since, during the latter years looking after the interest of Mrs. Mary A., widow of Peter Perkins, who was formerly the senior member of the firm. Mr. Brooks owns considerable property in Jellico, all of which has been accumulated by his industry and frugality. No man stands higher in the community, and the soundness of his business judgment is evidenced by the fact that he is frequently consulted for advice on business propositions. In 1900 he was elected justice of the peace and still holds the office. His deci- sions as justice have been sustained as being based on law and justice. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, has passed through the chairs of the subordinate lodge and served as high priest of the encampment. He is also a member of the Baptist church, and is one of the most charitable men in Jellico.
JEREMIAH SMITH, farmer and real estate dealer, Jellico, Tenn., was born in Whitley county, Ky., May 3, 1851. He is a son of Josiah and Polly M. (Harmon) Smith, both na- tives of Kentucky. The father was a farmer and trader all his life, and died April 16, 1897, in his seventy- fourth year. The mother is still liv- ing and resides at Jellico. The pater- nal grandfather, James Smith, was a native of Tennessee, and the great- grandfather of North Carolina. His name was Josiah Smith. The maternal grandparents, Jacob and Betsey Harmon, reared a large family of children, most of whom settled in Missouri. Jeremiah Smith is one of a family of nine children: James, now a farmer and stock dealer in Oklahoma, served in the
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Union army in the Civil war; Mary, Mrs. E. K. Crickmore, of Arkansas; Nancy, Mrs. James Broyles; Jeremiah, the subject of this sketch; Elizabeth, Mrs. J. C. Douglas, of Jellico; Lou- rani, Mrs. Lewis Perkins; Sarah, Mrs. Aaron Gaylor; Alice, Mrs. Lewis Douglas, now deceased; Martha, Mrs. William Lawson, of Pleasant View, Ky. Mr. Smith's educational oppor- tunities were somewhat rudely interrupted by the advent of the Civil war. His boyhood was spent in assisting his father on the farm, trapping in the winter months, and going to school as chance afforded. In early life he showed the commercial instinct by buying and selling calves and other animals. His first big venture -- at least, it was large for him at that time- was the purchase of seventy-five acres of land for $350. Most of this amount was accumulated from his live stock deals and by digging ginseng. At one time his father and an uncle, T. M. Smith, and Richard Perkins owned all the land where the town of Jellico now stands. The post-office there was called Smithburg, in honor of the family. Few men have done more to promote the material interests of Jellico than Mr. Smith. He lias built more than 100 houses and sold them to men of mod- erate means on easy terms, and now owns about 30 houses in town, besides about 1,000 acres of farm land in Campbell county, 300 acres of which are under cultivation. He came to Jellico thirty-two years ago, and in point of continuous resi- dence is one of the oldest inhabitants. During the last twenty years he has been repeatedly elected to the office of alderman. Mr. Smith was married, March 27, 1873, to Miss Eliza Jane Lay, a daughter of J. W. and Bettie ( Perkins) Lay, of Whit- ley county, Ky. Her parents are both deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith there have been born the following children: Mary Ann, died at the age of twenty-one years; Josiah, passed away when but six months old; James, residing at home with his par- ents ; one died in infancy ; Bettie, Mrs. J. T. Moore, of Jellico: Peter, a druggist at Jellico; Everett, a student in the Tennessee Normal school. at Knoxville, and Pernie. Both the parents are members of the Baptist church.
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HON. JAMES W. CRUMLEY, attorney-at-law and mayor of John- son City, Tenn., was born in Sullivan county, Tenn., close to the Virginia line, Feb. 28, 1856, and is a son of Elbert S. and Sarah (Sells) Crum- ley, natives of Sullivan county. The father was born in 1835; followed farming during his earlier life, en- gaged in mercantile pursuits near Bristol; conducted a tannery for some time, and in 1872 located at Johnson City, where he embarked in the stove and tin business until his death, in ISSI. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and was a son of Daniel W. Crumley, who served as sheriff and trustee of Sullivan county in his day. The mother of Mayor Crumley died May 9, 1900, aged about sixty- five years. Her brother, George M. Sells, was twice elected sheriff of Sullivan county. Of the ten children born to Elbert and Sarah Crumley, five are yet living. James W., the subject of this sketch, is the eldest of the family; Samuel S., now resid- ing in Johnson City; Jennie E., Nora, now Mrs. J. O. Gilmer. living in Johnson City; William S., connected with the Strong Lumber Company, of Bristol. James W. Crumley received his education in the public schools of Sullivan county and Johnson City; learned the tinner's trade, and followed it for ten years; studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1889 at Jonesboro. by Circuit Judge A. J. Brown and Chancellor John P. Smith; located at Johnson City, and has been in continuous practice there since. His practice extends to all the courts, and he is a successful lawyer. Mr. Crumley was elected mayor of the city, as a Prohibitionist, and had to petition to secure his name upon the ballot. He carried every ward in the city, but two, and one of them was a tie. As mayor of the city. he has given entire satisfaction to the people who voted for him, by his clean-cut administration of affairs. He married, some years ago, Miss Mollie C. Gregory, who died fourteen months later, leaving one son, Edward M. S., who is a stenographer and was one of the
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first to receive an appointment as gatekeeper at the Louisiana Purchase exposition, at St. Louis. He is a graduate of the Johnson City schools. Mrs. Crumley was a native of Virginia, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and at the time of her death was but twenty years of age. Mr. Crumley is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and has for many years been superintendent of the Sunday school.
HON. ALFRED A. TAYLOR, ex-congressman and prominent attor- ney, Embreeville, Tenn., was born, Aug. 6, 1848, near Sycamore Shoals, Carter county, Tenn., where Shelby, Sevier and Campbell rendezvoused and organized their forces just be- fore the battle of King's Mountain, in the American Revolution. For several generations his family have been prominently identified with the growth and government of the state and the nation. His great-grandfather, Gen. Nathaniel Taylor, was one of the pioneers of Carter county, which county was named in honor of John Carter, the maternal great-great-grand- father. Gen. Nathaniel Taylor was an uncle of Gen. Zachary Taylor, twelfth president of the United States. A. A. Taylor's grandfather, James P. Taylor, was a native of Carter county and was the first attorney-general after the organization of the first judicial district of the state. He married Mary Carter. and their oldest son, Rev. Nathaniel Greene Taylor, was the father of the subject of this sketch. He was born in Carter county, in 1819; educated at Princeton college and theological seminary ; junior orator in the Whig hall class of 1840; studied for the Presbyterian ministry; afterward became a Methodist, and was for over forty years a member of the Holstein confer- ence; member of the Thirty-third Congress, when Clay and Webster spoke against the repeal of the Missouri Compromise: one of the Whig electors for Gen. W. H. Harrison and for Henry Clay; an elector for Bell and Everett; opposed to seces-
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sion and canvassed the state in joint discussion with his brother- in-law, Landon C. Haynes, afterward a member of the Confed- erate senate; took part in the reconstruction agitation; commis- sioner of Indian affairs under President Grant ; member of Con- gress after Tennessee was readmitted, and died, in 1887, at the age of sixty-eight years. On the maternal side, the Carters are an old and honored Virginia family, who were related to the historic Lee family, of which Gen. Fitzhugh Lee is a descend- ant. The mother of Alfred A. Taylor was Emeline Haynes, born in the early twenties in Carter county. She was a daugh- ter of David and Rhoda (Taylor) Haynes, and died in 1890. Her grandfather, George Haynes, was with General Wash- ington during the Revolutionary war. Alfred A. Taylor was educated at Kelly's school, at Edge Hill, N. Y., and Princeton and Pennington, N. J. After leaving school, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar; practiced at Jonesboro for four years, where he was a partner of John Allison, now of Nashville; member of the legislature in 1874; Republican elector at every presidential election from 1876 to 1888; in 1888 was an elector for state at large; upon the state debt. question, he was selected by the Republican executive committee to make the canvass against United States Senator Isham G. Harris; candidate for governor in 1886. but was defeated by his brother, Robert L. Taylor; delegate to both national conventions that nominated Benjamin Harrison : elected to Congress in 1886; re-elected in 1890 and again in 1892; since that time has been engaged in agricultural pursuits and upon the lecture platform. Mr. Taylor is prominent in Masonic circles, being a member of the lodge, chapter and commandery. In June, 1892, he was married to Miss Jennie Anderson, a daughter of John and Ann (Jones) Anderson, of Carter county, and they have had eight children born to them; John (died at the age of sixteen months), Nathaniel Greene. Benjamin Harrison, David Haynes, James G. Blaine, Alfred Alexander, Robert Love and Mary Emeline.
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E. MUNSEY SLACK, editor and proprietor of the Johnson City Staff, Johnson City, Tenn., was born at Bristol, Tenn., Dec. 10, 1878. He is the fifth and youngest son of the late Senator John Slack, the founder and for thirty years the editor of the Bristol Courier. He served an ap- prenticeship at the case, in his youth- ful and precocious days, while dally- ing with the "Three R's" at the public school. In 1895 he entered the sopho- more class at King college, but left that institution in his senior year to become city editor of the Courier. In September, 1898, he entered Franklin college, Franklin, Ind., and in the spring of 1899 was graduated with the degree of Ph.B. Returning to the blue hills of Virginia, he was elected principal of Hawkins Chapel institute. Rural Retreat, where he spent a year talking to the mountains and in discovering how little he really knew, after all. In the fall of 1900 he succeeded his brother, Charles. H. Slack, as editor of the Courier. His work must have been fairly good, for the Memphis Appeal editorially observed : "Young Good Slack is making a most excellent paper of the Bristol Courier." But the president of the Courier Publishing Company evidently did not think as well of the young man's efforts as did the Appeal, for he told Mr. Slack that he was as. "idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean." That was in May, 1901, and he went to Abingdon, Va., where he purchased the Virginian. On page 591 of "Summer's History of South- west Virginia," issued in January. 1903. is found the following : "The Virginian became the property of E. M. Slack by purchase on June 11, 1901, and has since been edited by him. The pres- ent editor of the Abingdon Virginian is young, intelligent, inde- pendent and enterprising to a degree that is seldom excelied in this country, and in the opinion of the author he is the best- equipped newspaper man that the town has had in many years. The newspaper of which he is the editor is beyond question the- best newspaper to be found in the Southwest." On June I,.
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1903, Mr. Slack purchased the Johnson City Staff, a semi- weekly and absolutely independent newspaper, and, although he has not become a bloated bondholder or a multi-millionaire, he has had no difficulty to keep out of the hands of the sheriff. Mr. Slack is a Democrat of the old school and has the courage of his convictions. He was happily married, on Dec. 31, 1903, to Miss Maxwell, the daughter of Hon. and Mrs. J. B. Cox.
WILLIAM A. OWEN, one of the leading attorneys of Tipton county, Covington, Tenn., is a descendant of some of the oldest and most promi- nent families of that section of the state. His grandfather, Alexander Hamilton Owen, came with a brother, Isaac, from Davidson county, N. C., in 1826, and they became large land and slave holders in Tipton county. Isaac was county judge for over twenty years. His wife, whose maiden name was Evalina Burkhart, is still living, aged eighty- eight years. On the maternal side, the grandparents were Wil- liam D. and Sarah F. (Cox) Walton. William D. Walton and his father-in-law, Carr Cox, were the most prominent brick- layers in Tipton and the surrounding counties. They burnt the brick and erected the first court house in Covington, the First Methodist Episcopal church of that city, as well as many other historic buildings. Mr. Walton had four brothers. Two, Daniel and Morgan, were killed in the Confederate service : Dr. P. W. Walton was a distinguished physician, and George W. was a veteran of the Mexican war, who afterward served four years in the Confederate army. He died in 1892, aged seventy- two. The great-grandfather, James Harmon Walton, was one of the first settlers of the county, and he and his sons laid out the road from Covington to Randolph. Richard B. Owen, a son of Alexander H., was born Dec. 9. 1841, and went from Tipton county to Missouri in his youth. Being in that state when the Civil war broke out, he enlisted, in the fall of 1863.
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in the Union army, as a private in Company C, Forty-eighth Missouri infantry; was made first lieutenant of his company by election; afterward promoted to the rank of captain, and served to the close of the war. He then returned to Tipton county, where, in 1867, he married Sarah F. Walton, who was born Sept. 29, 1845, and to this union were born the following chil- dren: William A., the subject of this sketch; Lofton, a farmer, on the old homestead; Bessie, who died at the age of twenty- two years, in September, 1902; Annie E., now the wife of Henry Walton, a Tipton county farmer; Egbert W., a student in school, and two, the second and fourth of the family, who died in infancy. The father of these children died June 9, 1896, and the mother on Dec. 12, 1895. After their death the daughter, Bessie, lived with the subject of this sketch the remainder of her life. William A. Owen was born near where he now lives, March 6, 1869. In his boyhood he attended the common schools, and graduated from the Covington high school at the age of seventeen. He then took up the study of law, and in 1890 graduated from the law department of Vanderbilt uni- versity. He began the practice of his profession in Covington, in September of that year, and has succeeded in building up a very satisfactory clientage. In 1902 he formed a partnership. becoming the senior member of the firm of Owen & Smith, which practices in all the state and Federal courts, and is gen- erally retained, on one side or the other, in the most important cases of Tipton county. Mr. Owen was a member of the city council for four years; was for five years tax attorney for the county ; is a director in nearly all the corporations of Coving- ton ; trustee of the Southwestern Baptist university, at Jackson. Tenn .; elected dean of the law department of that institution in June, 1903; declined on account of business demands; repre- sented the temperance element of the state when the constitu- tionality of the "Adams law" was under consideration in the supreme court ; won the case, which he regards as the most sat- isfactory case he ever won, as it closed a large number of saloons. Mr. Owen is a prominent figure in fraternal circles, being a thirty-second degree Mason and orator of the consistory at Memphis; also a member of the chapter and commandery;
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the Knights of Pythias, in which order he now holds the office of grand chancellor of the state. He is an active worker in the Baptist church, holds the office of deacon and for the past four- teen years has been superintendent of the Sunday school. On April 19, 1892, Mr. Owen and Miss Claudia McFadden were united in marriage. She is a native of Covington and a daugh- ter of the late C. N. and Mary McFadden. Her father was a prominent business man of Covington, and both parents were members of the Baptist church, to which Mrs. Owen also belongs. Her grandfather. Nathan H. McFadden, was one of the leading Baptist ministers of the state, in his day, and founded the church in Covington in 1836. Mr. and Mrs. Owen have six bright and interesting children : William Laurie, Sarah Claudine, Richard Newton, Hayes Elliott, Mary Lucile and Dorothy Elizabeth.
HON. ROBERT LOVE TAY- LOR, lawyer, lecturer, ex-congress- man, and three times governor of Ten- nessee, was born in Carter county, of that state, July 31, 1850. He is a son of Rev. Nathaniel G. and Emeline (Haynes) Taylor (see sketch of Al- fred A. Taylor) ; was · educated at the Buffalo institute, Pennington, N. J., and Athens, Tenn., and studied law under Judge S. K. Kirkpatrick, of Jonesboro, Tenn. While in the office of Judge Kirkpatrick the Democratic congressional con- vention met at Jonesboro. The Republicans, in their convention two weeks before, had become divided, and the Democracy wanted a candidate who could keep the breach open. The choice fell upon the young "Mountain Sprout" in Judge Kirkpatrick's office, and Mr. Taylor gave up his studies to make the race. A joint discussion over the district, consisting of twelve counties. was arranged by the two committees, and Mr. Taylor and his opponent, Hon. A. H. Pettibone, went before the people in a hand-to-hand conflict. Mr. Taylor was elected by a majority
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of 5,000 votes, which was his beginning in public life. That was in 1878. In 1884 he was a candidate for presidential elec- tor, and, after the inauguration of President Cleveland, received the appointment of pension agent at Knoxville. In 1886 he was nominated for governor, the opposing candidate being his brother, Alfred A. Taylor, and at the election was victorious. He was re-elected in 1888, and at the close of his second term he took the lecture platform. Later his brother, Alfred A., joined him, and they made an extended tour of the country, lec- turing in nearly all the large cities of North and South with a joint lecture entitled "Yankee Doodle and Dixie." The gross proceeds of the undertaking, in a period of seven months, amounted to over $40,000. While the brothers were thus engaged, Robert L. was unanimously nominated for governor, and reluctantly entered the campaign of 1896. He was elected, and was governor of the state during the Centennial exposi- tion, at Nashville, where he was master of ceremonies on all important occasions. As a public speaker, Governor Taylor has few equals and far fewer superiors. As a candidate, he won the hearts of his people by his convincing arguments, while at . the same time the humor of his speeches, always of the highest type, never failed to make friends for him and his cause. As a lecturer, he has been one of the most successful in the country. both in a financial way and in winning popular favor. The only instance in the history of our national government where a father and two sons represented the same district in Congress is in the case of the Taylors of Tennessee, where the district thus represented is known as the Andrew Johnson district, and the only case where two brothers were the opposing candidates for governor was that of Alfred and Robert Taylor. Governor Taylor is a Knight of Pythias, a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He was married, soon after his election to Con- gress, to Miss Sallie Baird, daughter of Adolphus and Loretta Baird, of Asheville, N. C., and a cousin to Governor Vance. To this marriage were born nine children: Emily, now the wife of Dr. George F. St. John; Loretta, Katherine, Zebulon Vance; one who died in infancy; Robert L., Jr .; David Haynes; Mary,
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died in infancy; Sarah Elizabeth, deceased, and the youngest, died unnamed.
CAPT. WILLIAM E. F. MIL- BURN, attorney-at-law, Greenville, Tenn., and quartermaster of the Mountain Branch of the National Soldiers' home, in Washington county, was born in Greene county, Tenn., Nov. 15. 1842, his parents be- ing William and Martha (Frame) Milburn. The father was born near Winchester, Va., Sept. 15, 1797; be- gan life as a farmer; was for over sixty years a minister of the Method- ist Episcopal church; a member of the Holston conference ; chap- lain of the Eighth Tennessee cavalry, United States volunteers, for two and a half years in the Civil war, and served as presid- ing elder of the Methodist Episcopal church in both Tennessee . and Virginia conferences. The paternal grandfather, Jonathan Milburn, came to Tennessee in 1802. The post-office of Mil- burnton, in Greene county, was named in his honor. He died, in 1811, as a result of a wound received while serving with General Wayne in Ohio. Captain Milburn's mother was born in Virginia, just across the line from Hagerstown, Md., April 10, 1802. Her father died while she was quite young, and her mother came with an uncle, Archibald Frame, to Tennessee, about 1803, and died there, Feb. 14, 1861. The Captain is the tenth child in a family of eleven, he and two sisters being the only survivors. Eveline is a widow, and resides in Dalton, Ga .; Sarah, the eldest of the family, is now Mrs. H. D. Fraker, her husband a farmer, in Greene county. After the death of Cap- tain Milburn's mother, his father was married to Miss Sarah A. Creamer, and of this marriage there were three children: Dr. J. J. Milburn, a leading physician and surgeon. at Milburn- ton, Tenn .; George C. Milburn, a prominent farmer, in Minne- sota, and one daughter. Flora Etta, deceased. Captain Milburn enlisted in November, 1862, in Company B, Twelfth Tennessee
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cavalry, under General Spalding, and fought at Stone River, Franklin, Nashville, Pulaski, and in various other engagements. After the surrender of Lee, his regiment was ordered to Kansas and Colorado, and remained on the Plains until October, 1865. when the regiment returned to Nashville, Tenn., and was mus- tered out. Upon his return home, he entered Grant univer- sity, and in 1871 received the degree of A.B. Three years later he received the degree of A.M. from the University of Michi- gan. From 1869 to 1873 he was professor of mathematics in Grant university, and among his students were Gov. Robert Taylor; W. R. Turner, a prominent attorney of Knoxville; T. C. Carter, a bishop of the United Brethren church, and a number of others who have since made their mark in the world. While studying and teaching he read law with W. H. Briant, of Athens; was admitted to the bar in 1876 by Judge Hoyle, of the circuit court, and Chancellor William M. Bradford; began practice at Athens; went to Abilene, Kan., in 1879, and remained there about a year; then located at Greenville; elected to the legislature in 1886 and again in 1892; author of several important bills now on the statute books of the state; member of the Grand Army of the Republic, in which he has been department commander and a member of the council of admin- istration. On May 20. 1903. he was appointed quartermaster of the Soldiers' home. Besides his duties in this position and his extensive law practice, Captain Milburn is a director in the Greene County bank and is one of the leading men of the county. He was married on Oct. 1, 1887, to Miss Florence E. Williams, a daughter of John H. and Ann (Boon) Williams. Her father is a native of England and her mother of Maryland. They reside at Golden, Col. Captain and Mrs. Milburn have had born to them seven children: William, died in infancy; Lulu Belle. Frank Emily, Blaine, William E. F., Jr., Evans and Logan. Both parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
JAMES D. TILLMAN, who owns extensive farming inter- ests near Fayetteville, Tenn., and who was for a number of years a prominent figure in the political arena, was born in
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Bedford county, Tenn., in 1841. After the usual course in the public schools, he entered the Western Military academy, at Nashville, and was graduated from that institution with honors in 1860. He then took up the study of law, and in the fall of that year entered the law department of Cumber- land university. In 1861 he entered the Confederate service, as first lieutenant of Company F, Forty-eighth Tennessee infan- . try, commanded by Colonel Voorhies. His regiment was at Forts Henry and Donelson, and in the numerous skirmishes around the latter place before it was surrendered to the Fed- erals in February, 1862. Mr. Tillman was taken prisoner at that time and held at Columbus, Ohio, and at Johnson's Island until the following September, when he was sent to Vicksburg for exchange. Shortly after that the army was reorganized, and he was made lieutenant-colonel of the Forty-first Tennes- see infantry. Subsequently he fought at Baton Rouge, Jack- son, Miss., Baker's Creek. Chickamauga, the Hundred Days' fighting in Georgia, the siege of Atlanta, and in the military operations about Nashville and Franklin. Toward the close of the war, he was promoted to colonel, and was for a short time in command of Strahl's brigade. After the army was surrendered at Greensboro he returned home, completed his studies, and in 1866 was admitted to the bar. He located at Fayetteville, where his reputation as an attorney was soon established, and the victories he won in the courts were no less worthy of laurels than the victories he helped to win on the field of war. In 1871 he was elected to the lower branch of the legislature and in 1873 to the state senate. In 1894 he was again elected to the state senate, and the following year was appointed minister of the United States to Ecuador, by Presi- dent Cleveland. This position he filled with credit, both to himself and the power that appointed him, until in March. 1898, when he returned home, and since that time he has lived a quiet life upon his farm. Colonel Tillman married Miss Mary Frances Bonner, daughter of Dr. William Bonner, one of the leading physicians of Lincoln county.
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