USA > Tennessee > Notable men of Tennessee. Personal and genealogical, with portraits, Volume II > Part 4
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friends, purchased the water works under foreclosure sale, just after the second yellow fever epidemic had aroused a spirit of sanitary reform, and in the handling of this system, as its presi- dent, he became best known. The suddenly increased demand on the water supply was too great for the machinery to supply, and in the alarm felt on all sides, but few understood the utter impossibility of giving anything beyond partial relief until new and more powerful pumping engines could be in- stalled. Amid all the excitement, criminal prosecution and savage war waged by the press, his cool clear-headedness enabled him to keep his equilibrium and good temper, defend- ing the company in the courts and pressing with all energy the completion of adequate works. By his clear, even-tem- pered, but forcible and unanswerable communications through the press and common council, he gained the well-earned repu- tation of a clear and forcible writer. Few men could have car- ried the company through such an ordeal, overcoming opposi- tion and gaining friends through it all. During his busy career, Judge Latham has been identified with the commercial life of Memphis in many ways, and at every point he has left the impress of his energy and excellent judgment. Shortly after the passage of the law, in March, 1887, creating the Tennessee Industrial school, for the benefit of orphans, and helpless and wayward children, Governor Taylor appointed him a member of the board of that institution, and by the board he was chosen president. He is president of the Chicka- saw Wind Company, president of the New South Coal and Ming Company, of Alabama, a director in the South Mem- .is Land Company; director in the Memphis National bank, and financially interested in numerous other enterprises. He is president of and much interested in the Home for Aged Men. After a service of twenty-four years as president of the Water Company, the sale of the plant to the city in June, 1903, gave him the first relief from pressing activities he had enjoyed during his long and busy life. In the preceding nar- rative only the main incidents have been mentioned in connection with the public career of one whose life has been a full one, and nothing said as to his personality and inner life.
II-4
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But little can be said when an attempt is made to portray the character of a many-sided man, for only by contact is it pos- sible to know him. He is a tireless worker, and has interwoven his life and growing interests into the history of a municipality and a commonwealth. He is never idle, his ceaseless activity showing in every way and at every point, leaving no time for dreams. Every trust and every obligation receives the care it deserves. His honesty is of a kind that needs no one to call attention to itself. Throughout life he has been a man of the most exemplary habits and deportment. In 1871 he became a member of the Linden Street Christian church, where he holds consistent and active membership, and in which he has been an elder for thirty years. His religion is the result of the clearest and most deliberate convictions. Scholarly in his tastes, he is a great reader, and even during his most active business career he has kept abreast of the best thoughts of the day. He is cultured without a trace of pedantry or a thought of imperi- ousness. For his friends he has a frank, warm and loyal attachment, which is warmly reciprocated. Benevolent and kind of heart, he has practiced charity extensively but in an unostentatious manner, believing that well-directed charity which aids the needy to self-help is the truest kind. In social life he is affable and pleasant, leaving business worries behind when he enters the portals of home. An optimist, he is hopeful and lives happily whether at home or out in the busy whirl of commercial life.
The domestic life of Judge Latham has been singularly happy. He was married, in 1861, to Miss Mary H., daughter of the late Egbert Wooldridge. Their home life has been ideal in its congeniality. mutual love and esteem. Mrs. Latham is a lady of culture and refinement, a pure-hearted, frank. Chris- tian woman, and prominently connected with church and char- itable work in Memphis. Her efficient activity in behalf of the Forrest monument, now erecting at Memphis, gave her a wide and highly favorable reputation with the Southern soldiers of the war between the states. In this sketch of Judge Latham. we have aimed to portray him as he is judged by those who know him best. We could say more in deserved praise, but could not
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say less and do justice to one whose steadfastness of purpose, integrity in business, fidelity to promise and sagacity in all enterprises make his name a synonym for all that leads to suc- cess in business and good works.
GEN. GEORGE W. GORDON, superintendent of the public schools, of Memphis, Tenn., was born in Giles county, of that state, Oct. 5. 1836. His parents were Andrew and Eliza K. Gordon, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Vir- ginia. A portion of his early life was spent in the States of Mississippi and Texas. His education was acquired in the rural private schools and at the Western Military institute, at Nashville, from which he graduated in 1859, the course of study there being very similar to that of West Point. He adopted the profession of civil engineering, and was in charge of a division of the Nashville & Northwestern railway (now the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis) until the breaking out of the Civil war, when he entered the military service of his state as drill master of the Eleventh infantry regiment, at Camp Cheatham, in Robertson county, in June, 1861. When the state troops were transferred to the Confederate service he was captain of Company I, afterward elected lieutenant-colonel. and later appointed colonel of the Eleventh infantry regiment, and in 1864 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. In September, 1862, he was captured near Tazewell, Tenn., and held a prisoner for about a weck. At Murfreesboro he was severely wounded and captured, being held a prisoner this time until May, 1863, at Camp Chase, Ohio, and Fort Dela- ware, Del. Rejoining his regiment in May of that year, he fought at Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge, and in 1864 at Resaca, and in nearly all the engagements from Dalton to Atlanta, then to Peach Tree Creek, Sugar Creek, Jonesboro, Ga., and in all the battles participated in by his command,
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except Bentonville, N. C. At the battle of Franklin, Tenn., on the last day of November, 1864, General Gordon was cap- tured a third time and held as a prisoner at Fort Warren, in Boston harbor, until Aug. 22, 1865, or for about four months after the close of the war. After the war he studied law, and engaged in the practice of that profession in Pulaski and Mem- phis, Tenn. From 1875 to 1878, he was attorney-general of a criminal court in Shelby county, Tenn. He was appointed by the governor as one of the board of railroad commissioners of the state, from 1883 to 1885. In the latter year, he was appointed by the secretary of the interior department to a position in the Indian service and for four years served in the country west of the Rocky mountains. Returning to Memphis, he resumed the practice of law, and in 1892 was elected super- intendent of the public schools of that city, and, as an evidence of his ability and acceptability to the people and the successful management of the schools, he has been elected biennially ever since by different boards of education. General Gordon has few equals as an organizer and disciplinarian. Always on duty, looking after the minutest detail, quick to perceive the need of the schools, equally quick to suggest the means of supply- ing the need, with a fine education and a high order of execu- tive ability, the schools of Memphis have taken a high position in the educational world under his guiding hand. As an orator General Gordon is forcible, eloquent and magnetic. He is frequently in demand at memorial exercises, on com- mencement day in educational institutions, and on Fourth of July occasions, because of his well-known ability to say the most appropriate thing in the most appropriate way at such times. General Gordon is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Camp No. 28, United Confederate Vetcrans, of which he is commander; is president of the Confederate Historical association; also president of the State Association of Confederate Bivouacs; is major-general commanding the Tennessee division of the Federation of United Confederate Veterans, and was chief marshal of the Confed- erate reunion parade in June, 1904. He was married, at Bart- lett, Tenn., Sept. 5, 1876, to Miss Ora S., a daughter of Con-
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stantine and Susan A. Paine, but his wife lived only a few weeks after the marriage. He was married the second time, at Memphis, Dec. 25. 1900, to Miss Mary H. Hannah, daughter of James A. and Mattie W. Hannah.
WILLIAM MORTIMER RAN- DOLPH, president of the Memphis Bar and Law Library association, twice a candidate for Congress, and one of the ablest lawyers of Tennes- see, was born June 16, 1837, in the adjoining county of Fayette. He is a son of Rudolph and Lucretia Anne (Greene) Randolph, both natives of Virginia, the former of Amelia and the latter of Brunswick county. They removed to Arkansas about 1839, settling near Arkadelphia, but soon returned to Fayette county, Tenn., and in 1844 moved to Memphis. Death of children and illness in the family caused dissatisfaction, and they returned to Arkadelphia. The father died in November, 1888, aged eighty- four, and the mother died in September, 19044, aged ninety- one years. In the early boyhood of Mr. Randolph there were no public schools, and but very few private ones, so his mother taught him to read. He early acquired a taste for reading, and read every book that he could lay his hands on. Fortunately, when about thirteen years of age, he was enabled to attend a grammar school for a time, where he had the advantage of instruction in English grammar, the value of which can be seen in the accurate, clear and easy style of expression, in speech and writing. of which he is a master. Lack of funds to continue his studies compelled him to leave school at the age of sixteen, and from that time he has been self-taught. He bad determined to make the law his profession, but he must needs carn his living, and he succeeded in getting a position in the office of Isaac W. Smith, then clerk of the county, pro- bate and circuit courts of Clark county and also recorder of deeds. He was given permission to use the books of Harris
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Flanigan, a prominent lawyer of Arkadelphia, afterward gov- . ernor of Arkansas. Entering the office in August, 1854, he remained two years, performing most of the work of the office himself, becoming thoroughly familiar with legal forms, including deeds of conveyance, wills, mortgages, contracts, etc., and gaining great insight into court matters. When the courts were in session he kept the minutes, swore the jurors and wit- nesses, received verdicts, and observed all that was said and done in the suits. At the end of two years he concluded to take up the study of law in an office, and made application to A. H. Garland, afterward attorney-general of the United States, for permission to enter his office. Garland was about to move to Little Rock, having formed a partnership with Ebenezer Cummins, of that place. They gave the young man a place in their office at Little Rock, where he became an inmate of Garland's home, and remained there for four years, during which time he was entrusted with much of the firm's work. When, in March, 1857, Mr. Cummins suddenly died, Mr. Garland, finding himself at the age of twenty-six years in sole charge of a large practice scattered all over the state, decided that Mr. Randolph should become his partner. The young man pursued his studies to such purpose that he was admitted to the bar before he was of age, and was at once made a partner of his employer. This association lasted until the war closed the courts in 1861. Mr. Garland opposed for a long time the project for secession, but when the events of April, 1861, brought matters to a crisis, he stood by his state, was sent as a member of the provisional Congress at Mont- gomery, later to the permanent Congress at Richmond, and still later to the senate. Mr. Randolph was an ardent sup- porter of the Southern cause, but a constitutional disability compelled him to forego his desire to enter the army, his physi- cian forbidding him taking such a step. He declined to make any explanation or to say anything as to his reasons for not following the example of his friends and entering the service. ignored the criticisms made upon his course, knowing himself to be a friend of the South who was ready to do all in his power for that cause. In December, 1861, Mr. Garland secured
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his appointment as the Confederate States district attorney for the eastern district of Arkansas, which position he filled until September, 1863, when the occupation of that part of the state by the Federal forces compelled him to suspend the functions of his court, and he went to the southern part of the state, where he remained until early in the year 1864. AAssured by the Federal commander that he would not be molested, he returned to Little Rock and resigned his commission, as he had become convinced that it was only a matter of time when the Union would be restored. He met with kindly reception and considerate treatment from the civil and military authorities, and, being without means of livelihood, resolved to resume the practice of law. The disorganized condition of the state gov- ernment, the condition of business generally, and the death of his little son in June, 1864, which depressed him, led him to move to Memphis about the close of the war, and he has made that city his home ever since. Excluded from voting by an act passed by the legislature, he took little part in politics for some years. He was from 1869 to 1874 city attorney of Mem- phis, and, having allied himself with the Republican party, he was twice the nominee of that party for Congress, and in 1884, against his earnest protest, his name was again presented to the convention, Hon. Zach. Taylor being the successful nomi- nee and candidate by a few votes. Without flattery, Mr. Ran- dolph may be said to be among the first lawyers in the state, and is so recognized by the courts and members of the bar. With an apparent austerity of manner, an absence of sociabil- ity and reserve of expression, some think him indifferent. But this is more an outgrowth of his habit of exclusive self-reliance and somewhat seclusive methods of thought and labor. Behind the apparent mask of coldness are courteousness and kindness of spirit unsuspected by those who meet him only in the legal arena or in his professional capacity. He is a kind-hearted friend and a charitable, Christian gentleman. Physically, he is striking in appearance, of great height, erect bearing, and serious and dignified in manner. Almost a purist in language, dignified in private conversation, indulging in no fanciful ideas or rhetoric, poetry or figure of speech, he presents his cause
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with sound argument and logical sequence, his words and man- ner being convincing to all who hear him. Memphis has no more honorable or useful citizen, nor one more conspicuous in its local history. Just prior to the opening of the Civil war, Mr. Randolph was married to Miss Rebecca Ellen Wassell, daughter of the late John Wassell, of Little Rock.
HARRY P. JOHNSON, district manager of the Southern Cotton Oil Company and president of the Mem- phis Merchants' Exchange, is a Cana- dian by birth, but came to the United States in 1883. He is a man of ster- ling qualities, and stands high in the esteem of all who know him. In ad- dition to his position as the manager of the affairs of the company men- tioned, he is a director in the State National bank, the Home Finance and Trust Company and vice-president of the Broadway Coal and Ice Company. He was born at Eastwood, Canada, in 1860, and reared and educated in that province. At the age of eighteen he entered the Molsons bank, at Montreal, as junior clerk, and in the course of five years he was appointed man- ager of the St. Thomas branch of the bank, being at the time the youngest manager in charge of any of the branches of that institution. He came to Little Rock, Ark., and accepted a position with the Little Rock Oil and Compress Company, of which company he was the secretary and treasurer for five years. He then took service with the Southern Cotton Oil Company as manager of its Little Rock plant, and in 1892 the mill in Memphis was added to his jurisdiction, when his duties were considerably increased. The company built another mill at Newport, Ark., in 1898, which was also put under Mr. Johnson's management, and in that year he removed to Men- phis, the better to conduct the affairs of his company, which have prospered greatly under his direction. His bent is for business, and he takes but little interest in politics. On Jan. 19,
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1905, Mr. Johnson was elected to the presidency of the Mem- phis Merchants' Exchange. He belongs to the Episcopal church. Speaking of Mr. Johnson, M. S. Buckingham, presi- dent of the State National bank, says: "Under the manage- ment of Mr. Johnson, the Tennessee club is in a flourishing condition. He has reformed it in many ways. He is consid- ered an able man in the oil business, and as a business man stands high. He has a host of friends, who all admire him."
C. B. GALLOWAY, of Memphis, Tenn., was born and educated at Princeton, N. J. At the age of twenty-one years he secured a posi- tion in the Gayoso hotel, and has been engaged in the hotel business since that time. He is at present manager of the Peabody hotel, of Memphis.
L. LEHMAN. an attorney at Memphis. Tenn., is a native of Ohio, having been born in Cincinnati, March 21, 1842. He lived there until he attained his majority, and received a high school education in that city. He took up the study of law, and in 1863 graduated from the Cincinnati Law school. Memphis proving an attraction to the young man, he went there the same year and opened an office for the practice of his chosen profession. In 1865 he became a member of the law firm of Herron, Randolph & Leliman, which continued until 1867. when he retired from the partnership and practiced alone until 1870, when he formed a partnership with his brother. E. Lehman, which continues to the present time. In 1892 the subject of this sketch took the place of Judge Turney on the supreme bench at Jackson, Tenn., for six months, being selected because of his well-known ability. He is one of the leaders of his profession, not only in Memphis, but in the state. and enjoys a lucrative practice. He is vice-president of the Memphis Bar and Law Library association at the present time,
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and the senior member of the firm of Lehman & Lehman. Politically a Democrat, he is prominent in the councils of that party, and has been a member of the delegation from Memphis to various state conventions. He is also a prominent member of the Masonic order, in which he takes great interest.
HIRAM CAMPBELL WARIN- NER, one of the able attorneys of Memphis, Tenn., was born in Ray county, Mo., in which state he re- ceived his primary education, attend- ing Richmond college, in his native, county. He graduated from Bethany college, now in West Virginia, in 1860, with the second honors of his class, delivering the Latin salutatory. On March 27, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Capt. B. A. Rives' com- pany, which shortly after became Company A of Col. B. A. Rives' regiment of cavalry, Missouri State Guards. The fol- lowing October he was transferred to the Clark battery, then known as the "Boy Battery," and was made sergeant of one of the guns. Here he served until December, when, his time having expired, he re-enlisted for the war in the Confederate service, and served until May. 1865, in this battery, which was called the King battery after the death of Captain Clark on the battlefield of Elkhorn Tavern. While under General Price, in the Trans-Mississippi department, he took part in the battles at Carthage, Wilson's Creek, Dry Wood, Fort Scott, Lexing- ton and Elkhorn Tavern or Pca Ridge. Moving with Gen. Price's command to the eastern side of the Mississippi river, he was promoted to a lieutenancy in the battery, and partici- pated in the battles at Iuka, Corinth and other points. In Jari- uary, 1863, at the request of Maj .- Gen. Van Dorn, the battery was made a battery of horse artillery, and attached to the division of Brig .- Gen. W. H. Jackson, of Gen. Van Dorn's cavalry corps of Gen. Bragg's army, the corps of Gen. Van Dorn being composed of the divisions of Gen. Jackson and
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Gen. Forrest. He was engaged in numerous battles and out- post affairs about Columbia, Spring Hill and Franklin, Tenn. In May, 1863, Gen. Jackson's division, with the battery, re- ported to Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who was then engaged in efforts to relieve Vicksburg, Miss. As a lieutenant in com- mand of a section of his battery, he participated in Gen. John- ston's Mississippi campaign, and the battery was frequently engaged around Jackson, Yazoo City, along Big Black river, and at other points in Mississippi. After this campaign the battery accompanied Gen. Polk's corps to Georgia, and partici- pated in the various battles of the Georgia campaign, embrac- ing New Hope Church, Kenesaw Mountain and the engage- ments around Atlanta, and ending with Lovejoy's Station and Jonesboro. Gen. Hood having succeeded Gen. Johnston in the command of the Army of Tennessee, the battery entered upon Gen. Hood's march into Tennessee, serving a part of the time with his advance guard and a part of the time with his rear guard, and proceeded as far as Rome, Ga., fighting on the road. While engaged at or near Rome, it became painfully evi- dent that the guns had become worn out by constant service, and the battery was ordered to a point near Talladega, Ala., to await the arrival of new guns. The delay thus occasioned prevented the battery from participating in Hood's Tennessee campaign. It was soon ordered from Talladega to Macon, Miss., where its new guns were received. For a time it was engaged, along with other troops, in meeting raids directed at the Mobile & Ohio railroad, embracing the one at Egypt Sta- tion, and finally, by order, reported to Maj .- Gen. D. H. Maury at Mobile, Ala. About February, 1865, it was ordered to re- port at Verona, Miss., to Gen. Forrest, and from that time until the surrender of the Confederate armies it served with Gen. Forrest's command, and was paroled with it at Gaines- ville, Ala., about May 10, 1865.
In December, 1865. shortly after the conclusion of the war, Lieutenant Warinner located at Memphis, Tenn., and. prose- cutting the study of law with diligence, was admitted to the bar in the latter part of 1866, and became a member of the legal firm of Chalmers, Lee & Warinner.
He has practiced law
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there ever since with great distinction and success. He is the recognized leader of the Memphis bar in all cases appertaining to admiralty and maritime law and jurisdiction, ranks among the first in all other branches of the law, except the criminal, which he does not practice; and morally, socially and intellec- tually occupies a most honorable and prominent position in his city and in his profession. Politically, he is a Democrat, but has always declined political preferment, and, in the main, limits his party service to the act of voting. Religiously, his sympathies and beliefs are with the Christian church, though not formally connected with it. His paternal ancestors came from England about the year 1630, one branch locating in Buckingham county, Va., from which he descends. His pater- nal grandfather moved from that state to Kentucky about the year 1800. His father was a native of Kentucky, but removed from that state to Ray county, Mo., about the year 1839.
HENRY CRAFT (deceased), who was in his day one of the most emi- nent lawyers of Tennessee, was born at Milledgeville, Ga., April 8, 1823. of Welsh ancestry on the paternal side, his grandfather being one of the early settlers on the eastern shore of Maryland. His mother, whose maiden name was Mary E. Pitts, was a native of North Carolina and was of a distinguished family. When Henry was about ten years of age his parents removed to Macon, Ga., and a few years later to Holly Springs, Miss. Being of somewhat delicate health, he joined a party of surveyors, after the removal to Mississippi, and for two years lived in the woods, where he regained his strength and was ever afterward of a robust constitution. He was educated at Oglethorpe university, at Milledgeville, where he made an excellent record as a student, owing to his dili- gence and his retentive memory. There is now in the posses- sion of his son a book which was awarded him as a prize when
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