Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 107

Author: Speer, William S
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Nashville, A. B. Tavel
Number of Pages: 1278

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Col. Trousdale attributes his success in life to having striven to do whatever he did well, working systematic- ally and persistently ; and, by no means least, to the in- spiring enthusiasm, sympathy and assistance of his wife.

He is a Mason of the seventh degree, a member of the Episcopal church, and a conscientious believer in its doctrines; he considers it his highest privilege in life to enjoy a fixed religious faith.

The testimony of all who have been associated with him is, as is expressed by a friend: "Ile is one of those. noble, warm-hearted men, whom it is rare to meet with ; a man of unbending integrity, and gen- erons, even to a fault." All coneur in placing im- plicit confidence in his integrity, and in expressing the warmest regard for his social qualities. Especially is the kindliness and urbanity of his disposition mani- fested toward those who go to his office for information or advice. With an uwearied patience he listens to the most prolix and tedious, as well as the intelligent and considerate, and no expression of impatience or irritation ever clouds his countenance, but the infor- mation is always reliable and the advice sound and wise, and given with a cheerful courtesy which makes it doubly acceptable. To have business with Leonidas Trousdale is to be sure of a pleasant interview and profitable counsel.

JAMES MERRILL SAFFORD, A. M., M. D., PH. D.

P ROF. SAFFORD was born August 13th, 1822, in Putnam (now a part of Zanesville), Muskingum county, Ohio. His parents were Harry Safford and Patience Van Horn, the former the son of Dr. Jonas Safford, who was a distinguished physician in Galli- opolis, Ohio, the latter a daughter of Gen. Isaac Van Horn, one of the first settlers of Ohio, and an officer in the Revolutionary war. In 1810 he entered the Ohio University, at Athens, when, under the presidency of Dr. William H. Medtuffey (afterwards professor of moral and mental science in the University of Virginia), that institution was in its most prosperous condition. From this university he received the degrees of both

Bachelor and Master of Arts. In 1816, he entered Yale College, mostly for the purpose of studying chemistry, natural history and geology. His studies there were pursued with success. During vacations he worked in the field, and traveled much on foot over a large part of the New England States and New York. Some years afterward he received the degree of Doctor of Philoso- phy, from Yale College. Before leaving the latter col- lege, two professorships were tendered him; one; the chair of mathematics, in the Ohio University, the other, that of chemistry, natural history and geology, in Cum- berland University, at Lebanon, Tennessee. He ac- cepted the latter, and entered upon his duties at Leba-

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non in 1818. He became at once interested in the geology of his adopted State, and soon, through ex- plorations made on his own account, was enabled to publish the first geological map of Middle Tennessee worthy of the name.

In 1853, he was joined in marriage to Catharine K. Owen, widow of Dr. B. R. Owen, daughter of Jacob Howard, esq., a native of East Tennessee, and sister of Col. John K. Howard, a well known and prominent politician before the war, who was fatally wounded at the head of his regiment in one of the battles around Richmond, Virginia.

In 1854, Dr. Safford was elected by the Legislature as State geologist of Tennessee. At the expiration of the first term (two years), he was re-elected to the same po- sition, and again in 1858. Short reports of progress were made to the Legislature at the end of each term. In 1860, by the authority of the Legislature, he com- meneed a full report on the general geology of the State, but the work was stopped by the war. In 1868, the Legislature authorized the completion and publication of the report, which was finished, with a large geological map of the State, in 1869. This work, "The Geology of Tennessee," a large octavo of nearly six hundred pages, is considered by those competent to judge as among the very best reports of the kind and scope so far published. It is a noble monument to the ability, knowledge and untiring industry of the author, and is the great source of all we know on the subject of which it treats.

In 1872, he received the degree of Doctor of Medi- eine, from the University of Nashville. In 1873, he re- signed his professorship in Cumberland University and removed to Nashville. In the same year he was elected to the chair of chemistry in the medical department of the University of Nashville, and in 1874, to the same chair in the medical department of Vanderbilt Uni- versity, both of which positions he now holds.

He was one of the principal editors of the " Resources of Tennessee," a large work of one thousand two hun dred pages, published under the auspices of the Bureau of Agriculture of Tennessee. Without his aid and the information supplied in his " Geology of Tennessee," the " Resources," in its present comprehensive form, would have been impossible. In May, of the same year, 1875, he was elected professor of mineralogy, botany, and economic geology in Vanderbilt University, at. Nash- ville. Hle has been one of the academic faculty of this noted university from its beginning. His chair is now known as that of natural history and geology. Prof. Safford is one of the old members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is still State geologist of Tennessee. He was appointed State geologist by Govs. Porter, Marks, Hawkins and Bate, and has held the position continuously since the war. In 1876, he was a member of the jury of ! judges on mines and ores at the Philadelphia Centen- 1

nial Exposition, also at Atlanta, in 1882, and again at Louisville, in 1883. In 1878, he was appointed by President Hayes one of the United States honorary commissioners to the Exposition Universelle, at Paris. He was one of the editors of the Rural Sun, of Nash- ville, a most valuable agricultural journal, the first two years of its existence.

Prof. Safford was raised a Presbyterian, and has been an elder in the First Presbyterian church at Nashville some eleven years. In 1859. he became a Master Ma- son, at Lebanon. He has been all of his life a Whig in principles and feelings, and although he loves that old party still, has voted with the Democratic party since the war. He has been a member of the Tennessee State Board of Health ever since its organization. Ile lost pretty property by the war, but is now in easy cir- cum-taner -.

The name Safford, originally Stafford, (though some authorities insist Safe-ford,) is of English origin. Of Prof. Safford's maternal unele, Maj. Jefferson Van Horn, was a major in the United States army, and took part in the Mexican war. Prof. Safford's brother, Rev. J. P. Safford, D. D., who died in 1951, was a prominent Presbyterian minister at Zanesville, Ohio. Isaac V. 11. Safford, formerly a civil engineer, is now a farmer in California. His sister Annie is the widow of D. L. Triplett, who was a wealthy capitalist of Coshocton, Ohio. His sister Bessie married Frank E. Barney, owner of a large mill property, at the same place,

By his marriage with Mrs. Owen, Prof. Safford has had two children, namely: Annie Safford, born at Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1555, died in 1864; Julia i Safford, born at Lebanon, Tennessee, October 21, 18GG educated at Ward's Seminary, at Nashville, in which she developed a high order of musical talent. In the beauty of her person, the grace of her manners, the strength of her character. and her varied domestic ac- complishments, she is an honor to her distinguished parentage. She married at Nashville, in December, 1SS!, Mr. D. H. Morrow, an able and prosperous law- yer, of Dallas, Texas, and has one child, Kate Safford Morrow.

By her former marriage with Dr. Benjamin R. Owen. Mrs. Safford has three children, namely: Fannie Owen, now wife of Judge Horace HI. Lurton. of Clarksville, Tennessee, has three living children, Leon, Horace and Mary Lurton : Lily Owen, now wife of Richard Mor- gan, a distinguished lawyer of Dallas, Texas, and has two children, Richard and Owen Morgan ; Benjamin HI. Owen, a leading druggist of Clarksville, Temessee, ed- ucated at the College of Pharmacy, in Philadelphia, married Miss Mary Kennedy, daughter of Hon. D. N. Kennedy, banker of Clarksville, has three children, Sallie, John and Mary Owen.

Mrs Safford is a lady distinguished for the force of her character for her broad, liberal views, womanly dignity, intelligence, sprightliness and industry. In the

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wide circle of her friends she is frequently spoken of as "a famous housekeeper." She is very fond of litera- ture, music and society, and especially of good com- pany at her own home. 'Affectionate and kind, noted for charity, she is both a model wife and mother, friend and neighbor.

While Prof. Safford was yet a student at Yale Col- lege, his instructor, the celebrated Prof. Silliman, re- ceived a letter from Dr. Anderson, president of Cum- berland University, at Lebanon, Tennessee, requesting him to recommend some young man qualified to fill the chair of chemistry, natural history and geology, who might be induced to come to Tennessee. In the mean- time Prof. Safford had received notice of his election to the chair of mathematics in the Ohio University, at Athens. Prof. Silliman advised him to prefer the call to Tennessee, and there pursue, in a newer field, his favorite geological studies. To this advice Tennessee is indebted for the possession of one of the foremost scientists of the country, and the interests of the State

have been benefited by his intelligent labors beyond calculation. From early boyhood, he was fond of books and mechanical inventions, but his studies of chemistry and geology in college gave the final turn to his mind, and with the zeal of an enthusiast he has devoted his busy life to that which his eminent fitness seems to have foreordained him. As a teacher of geology, he found the geological maps in use in the State very meager and defective, and he soon made a geological map of his own of Middle Tennessee, and, at the urgent solicitation of his friends, applied for and obtained the position of State geologist.

Prof. Safford is a man of great energy and vital force; is determined, and possessed of strong will power and. perseverance, yet he is modest and retiring, loves study, but is not without ambition. Physically, he is of me- dium height, stout build. weighs one hundred and sixty pounds ; has hazel eyes, silver gray hair and beard, and is the picture of health. His expression is a combina- tion of gravity, severity and contentment.

J. GEORGE HARRIS.

UNITED STATES NAVY.

J GEORGE HARRIS, a gentleman who first dis- tinguished himself' in Tennessee as the brilliant political editor of the old Nashville Union, the organ, while in his hands, of Gen. Andrew Jackson and Pres- ident James K. Polk, and who is now living, a retired pay director of the United States navy, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Dr. Van S. Lindsley, at Nashville, was born at Groton, Connecticut, a town of Revolution- ary historic memories, which Mr. Harris was chiefly instrumental in reviving by a centennial celebration, in 1881, of the battle of Groton Heights, fought Sep- tember 6, 1771, in which no less than eleven of his an- cestors, of the Avery family, were killed and as many wounded. Eight successive-generations, moreover, of the Averys lie in the same graveyard, at Pequonnock, a village in the town of Groton.

Up to the time of his mother's death, February 2, 1881, at the great age of ninety-two, Mr. Harris was in the habit of spending part of his time every year at his summer home, at Groton, opposite New London, at the mouth of the Thames. It was on the occasion of his summer visit there, in 1879, that he determined to get up the centennial celebration of the traitor Arnold's assault on the place. A committee was appointed, of which he was made president, and after two years' of preparation -- the government contributing ten and the State three thousand dollars . success crowned their of. forts with the presence of one hundred thousand people, including the attendance of a large fleet of United States men-of-war, of all the military of Connecticut, with the

governor and staff at the head, of Gen. Sherman and his staff of the United States army, of the chief justice of the United States, and numerous other dignitaries. During the celebration a sham fight occurred, in imi- tation of the massacre, which engaged all the militia and volunteer corps from abroad, and an attack by the ships from the river gave eclat to the scene as one of national importance. There were certain features of the original battle that rendered it peculiarly local. It was fought on Groton soil, and three-fourths of its vic- tims were well-known citizens of the town. Its forty widows in this one town, and the weeping of so many families for the loss of fathers and sons, some falling side by side, made it ever memorable and sorrowful. But the losses in New London, and the desolate homes in other towns, made the calamity more wide-spread. The celebration was distinguished by a parade of Con- neetieut Knights Templar, by speeches from Gen. Sher- man, Gen. Hawley, J. T. Wait, Edward Everett Hale, Dr. Bacon, and the presence of Col. J. W. Barlow, of the United States army, as chief marshal. But to no other man there was that occasion so significant and grateful as to Mr. Harris, whose ancestors, the Averys, were among the earliest settlers of the place. There has been pub- lished a large quarto volume on the battle of Groton Heights, containing an account of the centennial cele- bration ; and of the speeches made on the occasion no one surpasses the address of welcome delivered by Mr. Harris, as president of the committee, as follows : " Ladies and Gentlemen : In behalf of the committee

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appointed here two years ago by the people and the Groton Monument Association to devise ways and means for repairing and improving the monument, and to make suitable arrangements for celebrating the one hundreth anniversary of the battle of Grotou Heights, I extend to this great assembly a most cordial welcome. " Aided and encouraged in their work by the govern- ment, the State, and the people, they have done their duty, and their report is before you in the reconstructed classic shaft that stands here beside us, and in these ample preparation- for this centennial celebration.

" We are plad to be instrumental in adding another to the several commemorative centennials that have occurred within the last six years, awakening our entire country to a lively sense of the valor and patriotism of the men of the American Revolution, contributing to heal the wounds occasioned by sectional strife, and re- newing the ancient bonds.of our common nationality over our widely-extended area of human freedom.

" It has been said, by the greatest of American his- torians, when referring to the gallant defenders of Fort Griswold, that 'their courage and love of country should be celebrated, not only at the end of a century, but of a thousand years.' And if, in the onward roll of the centuries, their grateful posterity shall assemble here to celebrate the tenth centennial, we may rest assured that the monument we have so handsomely en- larged and so firmly strengthened, according to the ad- mirable plans of a distinguished engineer of the army, will still stand here on this granite hill in its silent but eloquent grandeur, to tell them the same story of the 'times that tried men's souls' that it tells us here to- day.

" We come together, not as did the bereaved kindred of the slain for the first half century after the conflict, to spend the anniversary in mournfully lingering around the broken walls of the old fortification ; but rather do we come with hearts full of gratitude for national bless- ings, and with becoming pride and patriotic exultation, as we reflect on their great and good deeds, study the exemplary lessons they have left us, and teach the rising generations to emulate their examples. Saered to their memory we bring with us our best offerings, for that they nobly participated in laying the superstructure of our republican government so broad and deep in the cement of perpetual union, that neither foreign inva- sion nor domestic convulsions can shake it from its solid fomidations --

". They never die who fall in Freedom's cause : The well-fought field may soak their gore, Their heads may sodden in the sun, But still their spirits live and serve As guides along the pathway of mankind.'

" This is the people's entertainment, to which every- body is respectfully invited, and everybody is more than welcome."

The historian adds: "The stillness of the immense

andience during the delivery of these words of welcome was interrupted only by the rustlings of applause at the close of each period."

The original Christopher Avery, and his son James, came from England and settled as farmers near the fish- ing station, on Cape Ann, where Gloucester now stands, and subsequently moved west, in 1650, to the Pequot country, at the mouth of the Thames, where New Lon- don now stands; and from them are descended most of the Avery families of America. The Lindsleys settled about the same time at Branford, adjacent to New Lon- don. Two hundred and forty years afterward a young Lindsley ( Dr. Van S. ) meets and marries a young lady descended from the Averys and Harrises of the early colony, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of Mr. Harris, in a far distant capital of a southern State, thus remodeling family characters on the blended traditions of two ancient parallel ancestries. What is education, civilization, individuality, but the product of centuries, modified from generation to generation ? A biographer may detect the differentiation of an individual, but he never.can account for it. It is a secret known only to the ommiscient Deity. The only real history is biography, but that is only a collection and arrangement of the salient points in a man's outward life, which gives but an approximate idea of his complete character.

A biographical sketch and portrait of Mr. Harris may be found in the "History of Davidson County, Tennessee,' and another in the " History of New Lon- don County, Connecticut." From these and - other sources, more or less authentic, the following sketch is compiled.

As soon as he became of age, he began his career as associate editor of the Political Observer, at New Lon- don, in 1830. He afterwards edited the New Bedford Daily Goedte. In February, 1839, he became the editor of the Nashville Chion, which he continued to edit, with the exception of one year spent in Europe as the commercial agent of the United States, till 1815, when he was commissioned as a pay officer of the navy. In that capacity he was at the capture of Tuspan, Tabasco and Vera Cruz, on the staff of Commodore Perry, and also with him in his Japan expedition. He afterward spent two years on the west coast of Africa, and for two years was attached to the flag-ship in the Mediterra- nean squadron. He was fleet paymaster of the Gulf squadron during our civil war, and on duty, afloat and ashore, to the close of the conflict. After sailing en- tirely around the world, and up and down the ocean, wherever navigable, he was retired under the law at the age of sixty -two, for long and faithful service.

But it is as a writer that Mr. Harris is best known in Tennessee. His fiume as a political editor having reached Washington City, the Tennessee politicians at that city invited him, at a critical juncture, to under- take the redemption of Tennessee from under Whig control and make it a Democratic State. In January,

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1839, he came to Nashville, and in the month of Feb. ruary following established the Nashville Union. The editor of a newspaper in those days was supposed to aim at statesmanship, rather than writing merely as a business profession. The Chion soon came to be rec- ognized as the home organ of fien. Jackson and James K. Polk, and its influence under the aggressive policy of Mr. Harris was as extensive in the southwest as that of the Richmond Enquirer on the shores of the At- lantic.

His brief editorial career in Tennessee was the turn- ing point in the fortunes of the Democratic party in the State. In 1835, Gen. Jackson had refused to ex- press a preference for a presidential candidate, choosing to abide the decision of the national convention. But the Whig leaders of the State, Bell. Bailie Peyton, . Jarnigan, Foster, Fogg. Hall. Barrow, Zollicoffer. and the leading newspapers of the State, persisted in push- ing the claims of Hugh L. White, and the electoral vote of the State was cast for him. The only paper that opposed White was the MeMinnville Gasite, whose editor, Ford, Mr. Harris used to compliment as "among the faithless faithful only he." On the 4th of March, 1839, Mr. Polk left the speaker's chair at Washington and took the stump for governor against the incumbent. Newton Cannon. Mr. Harris had preceded him about three months, and expoused the cause of the future gov- ernor, who acknowledged chat his triumph was more largely due to Mr. Harris than to any other one of his friends.

The success that crowned the indefatigable labors of young Harris was due, in a great measure, to the con- stant counsel and advice of Gen. Jackson, then in retire. ment, who was accustomed to send for him and have him often at the Hermitage, giving him the ene to na- tional and state affairs of the day. Indeed he at one time strongly recommended Mr. Harris to President Tyler as our minister to Brazil, that our too long de- layed claims against that government for spoliations on our commerce in the river La Plata might be promptly settled. Their confidential and cordial relations con- tinued up to the time of the veteran's, death, after which, as making record of his gratitude Mr. Harris delivered Tennessee - eulogy of him at Charlotte, which,

"The Rev. Robert Gray, of Gallatin, Tennessee, has prepared for publication the genealogy of the MeGavock family of Davidson county, entitled "James MeGavock and his Descendants," from which it appears that the James here referred to was grandson of the first James, and son of David MeGavock, one of the first set- tiers of Nashville, We are permitted to make the following extract from these very valuable manuscripts : " James MeGavock, grand- son of the first James, and grandson of David MeGavock and Elizabeth (acc McDowell), was born in Virginia, March 28, 1790, and died near Nashville, January 23, 1911. He married Mary Kent, May 12, 1812. Mrs. MeGavoek, was the chest child of Col. Joseph Kent, and Margaret (ace Mediayoek ), and also granddaugh- ter of the first James MeGavock, was born December 28, 1758. and died April 5, 1827. They settled on the half of a quarter seetion of land, a part of which is now within the limit of East Nashville, where they had children, as follows : (D). Margaret

with twenty - five other similar discourses by eminent men in the different States of the Union, was incorpo- rated in a handsome volume that passed through many editions, entitled " A Monument to Jackson."

The history of the newspapers and newspaper editors of Tennessee might justify a separate volume. At the time to which this biography refers, money was not thought of as a means of carrying elections or con- trolling the press Mr. Harris, for example, tells his friends that he was never offered and never received a dollar to advocate any measure, or the claims of any po- litical candidate. The press of that day discussed prin- ciples, and favored men who represented those princi- ples. The discussion opened on principles, the United States Bank. the tariff. internal improvements by the general government. then dividing the two parties, The contest was the inauguration of what has been aptly styled "hot polities." "Principles, not men," was the cry raised for the first time in the State. Gen. Armstrong ran against Cannon. in 1837, for governor, and was beaten by about twenty thousand majority. In 1839. Mr. Polk overcame Cannon's majority, and was elected by four thousand majority, and a Democratic Legislature was elected which instructed Mr. . Foster out of the United States senate and sent Felix Grundy in his stead. Such was the result of Mr. Harris' ag- gressive political policy as the editor of a leading news- paper of the State

Mr. Harris married at Nashville, Tennessee, May 5, 1812. Miss Lucinda MeGavock. daughter of James MeGayock, and granddaughter of David MeGavock, of Virginia, who settled at Nashville in 1785-86. Mrs. Harris was born February 18, 1817, and died June 28, 1817. She was educated at the Nashville Female Academy, under Dr. Lapsley, and was in all respects a superior woman, of intellectual culture and great beauty and comeliness of person. The MeGavocks are a nu- merous and prominent finnily in Davidson and Wil- liamson counties, Tennessee, and are noted-the men for being of sterling character, first-class business men and farmers and fine judges of land, while the women, among their many excellencies, for being model house- keepers and for their whole-souled and unstiated hos- pitality. By his marriage with Miss Metayork, Mr.

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 107

Author: Speer, William S Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Nashville, A. B. Tavel Number of Pages: 1278

Author: Speer, William S
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Nashville, A. B. Tavel
Number of Pages: 1278