Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 108

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

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K. Medavock, burn June 3, 1818 ; married Hardy Bryan, in 1833 ; died, March 21, 1835. (2). Sarah Jane MeGavock, born in 1815; died an infant. (3). Lucinda MeGlavock, born February 15, 1817, married Jeremiah George Harris, May 5, 1842 ; died June 23, 1847. (4). Wiley Mediayork, born in November, 1818 ; died in 1838. (5). Joseph K. MeGavock, born September 27, 1820 ; died (ummarried). September 10, 1815. (6). Mary K. Mediayork, born in 1826 ; mar- ried Albert G. Wilcox, January 10, 1819 ; died March 9, 1867." The remains of all these, with the exception of those of Mrs. Wil- cox, were interred in the little family cemetery near their dwelling, on the spot marked as " Pleasant Mount, " upon the old Mettavock map of Nashville, reproduced in the "History of Davidson County, " but late extension of the city limits rendered it necessary that they should be removed, and in 1953 they were transferred to bot No. 17. section 5, in Mount Olivel cemetery, at Nashville. Tennessee.

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PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

Harris had but two children: Joseph Ewing Harris, educated at Nashville University and Yale College, who died in London, England, August 28, 1865, at the age of 22; and Lucie Harris, educated at Nashville, Philadelphia and Boston, who became the wife of Dr. Van S. Lindsley, lately deceased, whose sketch see elsewhere in this volume.

Mr. Harris is descended from two of the oldest fami lies of America. He is the great-grandson of William Latham, who commanded at. Fort Griswold, and also of Parke Avery, his lieutenant. The genealogy of the Avery family is as follows: Christopher Avery was born in England, and died in 1681; James Avery, born 1620, in England, died in 1694; James Avery, 2d, born De- cember 16, 1616, died August 22, 1728; Ebenezer Avery, born May 1, 1678, died July 19, 1752; Elder Parke Avery, born December 9, 1710, died March 14, 1797; Lieut. Parke Avery, born March 22, 1741, died December 20, 1821; Youngs Avery, born April 2, 1767, died May 30, 1837. Mary, eldest daughter of Youngs Avery, born January 19, 1790, married, November 25, 1807, to Richard Harris, of Norwich. Connecticut, by whom she had two children. Jeremiah George Harris and Erastus Richard Harris. She died at Groton, Feb- ruary 2, 1881.

The paternal ancestry of Mr. Harris appears as fol- lows: Walter Harris, born in England in 1600, died at New London, 1651; Gabriel Harris, son of Walter, born in 1630, died in 1684; John Harris, son of Gabriel, born in 1663, died in 1710; Richard Harris, son of John, born in 1700. died in 1751; Jeremiah Harris, son of Richard, born in 1745, died in 1797; Richard Harris, son of Jeremiah, born in 1786, died in 1816; Jeremiah George, son of Richard, born in 1809; Joseph Ewing, son of Jeremiah George, born in 1813, died in 1865.

Mr. Harris' mother was the daughter of Youngs Avery and his wife, Eunice Latham, daughter of Capt. William Latham. These families took an active part in the Indian wars more than two hundred years ago, and were more or less distinguished in the legislature

and on the bench, as well as in the field; and their de- scendants. becoming very numerous, are to be found in almost every State of the Union. True to their patriotic lineage, the immediate ancestors of Mary Avery Harris, her paternal grandfather, Lient. Parke Avery, and her maternal grandfather, Capt, William Latham, were off. cers of the Continental army during the American Revo- lution. They served with Washington at and around Boston before the declaration of independence, con- tinning in the service up to the close of the war, and were both severely wounded in the battle of Groton Heights, September 6th, 1781. Capt. Latham com- manded at Fort Griswold up to the time when Col. . Ledyard, as his superior officer, came from New London, and then took command ou the morning of the battle.

On the 25th of November, 1807, Mary Avery was married to Richard Harris, of Norwich, by Rev. John Gano Whitman. Her husband was the son of Jere- miah Harris, a descendant of the sixth generation of Walter Harris, from England, who settled in New Lon- don in 1650. Richard was boru at Norwich, May 25, 1756. Their married life, begun in their youth, was remarkably happy, but brief. He had chosen the sea as a profession, and it became his burial place, on the 21st of September, 1816, while on his passage home from the West Indies.

Left a widow with two children, Mr. Harris' mother taught school twenty consecutive summers near her home. After they were grown, she devoted herself to the filial care of her aged parents. The Rev. Jared R. Avery, to whose church she belonged, and who preached her funeral sermon, at Groton, Connecticut, said of her : " If Mary Avery Harris did not fill the measure of true womanhood to the brim, where will you find a character that has filled it? True to every duty of wife, daugh- ter, mother, friend and neighbor, her pure and active life of faith, hope and charity is left to us an example which, if followed, will surely, through grace, entitle ns, as it has entitled her, to 'a mansion not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.'"

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HON. JAMES FENTRESS.

BOLIVAR.

T' ITE Fentress family, as far back as the genealogy is traceable, appears to have ever been, as now, a family of strongly-marked characteristics. It is ac- cepted as an early fact in the family history that the great great -grandfather of the subject of this sketch, be ing the son of an English 'squire, was the accepted lover of the daughter of aristocratie English parents who reso- · lutely refused their consent to the marriage. The young couple contrived to make their way to Gretna Green, and were married in defiance of parental opposition. The groom, with characteristic pride, refused to claim, nor would he consent that his wife should claim, any part of the estate which was hers in her own right. Actuated by a like motive, his descendants refrained from asserting any claim to the inheritance.

James Fentress, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a conspicuous and influential man in Tennessee, in his day, as the annals of the State abun- dantly testify. He was speaker of the house of repre- sentatives for nineteen years, an occupancy of that chair that has no parallel in our State history.

David Fentress, the father, was a native of Robertson county, though the better part of his life was spent in Hardeman county. He was a lawyer of fine ability, and practiced his profession at Bolivar and in the neighboring courts for twenty-five years with brilliant success. At one time he represented his county ( Harde- man) in the Legislature, He was a man of marked lit- erary taste and extensive reading. He was regarded as the best read man in his section, and was invariably appealed to as an authority in all controversies of a literary or historical character. Like Carlyle, he had an irrepressible contempt for shams, and this charae- teristic imparted a satirical tone to his utterances that was not conducive to personal popularity, though he was universally regarded as the ablest man in his county, and thoroughly honest in all his dealings. He was a man of very strong individuality. He died in 1856, at the age of fitty-six.

Matilda Fentress, the mother, was the daughter of David Wendell, a noted merchant of Murfreesborough, and a man of great moral and Christian influence. She was educated at the Moravian school, in Salem, North Carolina. As illustrating the changes that have taken place in the methods of travel since that day, it may be mentioned that she returned home from Salem on horseback, in company with her father, by way of Phila delphia, he taking that city in the route for the pur- chase of goods. She first married Evander Melver, of Rutherford county. He dying, she subsequently be- came the wife of David Fentress, and the mother of five children: Dr. David W. Fentress, now living in 62

San Saba, Texas, engaged in the raising of cattle; James, the subject of this sketch; Francis, a lawyer, in Bolivar; Kate, the wife of Hon, Albert T. MeNeal, a lawyer, in Bolivar; Sallie W., who married Jerome Hill, a leading commission merchant, formerly of Mem- phis, Tennessee, but now of St. Louis, Missouri. The mother, now past her threescore years and ten, makes her home among her children, chiefly with her son James. Of her five children, all are living. For forty- five years after her marriage, there was not a death among her children or her children's children. who had reached the number of forty-live. She is an orthodox Presbyterian, as are also the children, except the two daughters, who went with their husbands into the Epis- copal communion. Her sister Susan married Dr. Luns- ford P. Yandell, sr., who was, for many years, the lead- ing professor in the medical university, at Louisville, Kentucky. His sons, Lunsford P. and David W. Yan- dell are well known surgeons in Louisville. David W. Was surgeon-general of the Trans-Mississippi depart- ment. in the Confederate service .. Lunsford P. Yan- dell was surgeon of the Fourth Tennessee regiment (Col. Neely). Her brothers, Drs. James E. and Robert S. Wendell, are well known physicians of Murfrees- borough.

Judge Fentress was born, July 27, 1837, at Murfrees- borough, while his mother was on a visit to her parents, He grew up at Bolivar, enjoying all the advantages for early instruction which the town afforded. His educa- tion was completed at the University of Virginia, in 1:56-7. He studied law in the office of his half- unele. John R. Fentress, at Bolivar, and was licensed to practice by Judges Humphreys and Read, in 1859. He pursued his profession in Bolivar with most flatter- ing prospects until the breaking out of the war, when he at once enlisted in the provisional army of Tennessee for the Confederate service. He was chosen first lieu- tenant of Company B (Capt. R. P. Necly), Fourth Ten- neste infantry, being the first company organized in Hardeman county. The regiment went into service May 14, 1861. Capt. Neely was afterwards made colo- nel of the regiment, and Lieut. Fentress became cap- tain of the company. The regiment first rendezvoused at Germantown, and then went to Randolph ; from Ran- dolph it moved to Fort Pillow, and thence into Mis- souri, under Gen. Pillow. It returned by way of Hick- man, Kentucky, and took possession of Columbus, in that State. From this point it was ordered to Island Number Ten, and thence to the battle of Shiloh, in which it participated. After this, Capt. Fentress, being pros- trated by dysentery and pronounced incapacitated for service, was permanently and honorably discharged.

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PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

His health rallying, however, he re-entered the service as a private in the Seventh Tennessee cavalry (Col. Duckworth), and served till the close of the war.

The war ended, Judge Fentress, broken in health and fortune, resumed the practice of the law at Bolivar, and soon, by his talents and industry, was rewarded with a lucrative and steadily growing business. In 1870, he was induced to become a candidate for the constitu- tional convention of Tennessee, and was triumphantly elected over a popular opponent. Although he was one of the younger members, he took a high stand in that body, discussing the leading questions presented with the ability of a matured statesman. It was in this body that he first conspicuously displayed that independence of thought and courage of assertion which themselves proved their legitimacy of inheritance from his father, and which have since been characteristic of the man. He boldly advocated what he believed to be right, without stopping to consider whether he was in the ma- jority or the ininority.

Returning from the convention, he resumed the prac- tice of his profession at Bolivar. The election of ju- dicial officers, under the new constitution, soon coming on, he became a candidate for chancellor of the Tenth chancery division and was elected, defeating Chancellor John W. Harris, of Somerville, and Chancellor T. C. Muse, of Jackson. Having served two years with much distinction, and to the great satisfaction of the bar and people of the division, he resigned the chancellorship and resumed his profession, which he found much more remunerative than the office he had vacated. In 1876, he was engaged as the chief attorney of the Tennessee receiver of the Mississippi Central railroad, and after the sale of the New Orleans, Jackson and Great North- ern railroad and the Mississippi Central railroad, which were afterward consolidated into the Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans railroad, he became general solicitor for the consolidated line. This position he held from 1877 to 1882, when the consolidated road was leased for four hundred years to the Illinois Central railroad com- pany. He then became, and is yet, the general solicitor of the Illinois Central and branches, in the States of Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky and Louisiana, He is also general solicitor of the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley railroad company, the West and East railroad company, the New Orleans Belt railroad company, and was the first president of the Canton, Aberdeen and Nashville railroad company, of which he is now also general solicitor. These accumulative engagements, involving, as they do, the most delicate, laborious and responsible trusts known' to the profession, indicate,

better than any words can do, in what high esteem Judge Fentress is held as a lawyer by the most careful and intelligent business men of the country.

Judge Fentress was happily married in Bolivar, August 21, 1859, to Miss Mary Tate Perkins, daughter of Joseph W. Perkins, formerly a lawyer of Nashville, who was killed in the Mexican war. Her mother was Mary Talbott, of Nashville, a most excellent lady. Mrs. Fentress was educated at Ward's Seminary. Ten children have been born to Judge and Mrs. Fentress: Mary Warren, educated at Miss Baldwin's school, at Staunton, Virginia, and afterward studied two years at the celebrated school of Miss Sarah Porter, at Farm- ington, Connecticut ; Matilda, educated in New York city; Anna Perkins, who died in Chicago, 1878, aged twelve years; Thomas, who died in 1883, in Wyoming territory, on his return with his father from San Fran- cisco; James; David; Frank, who died in 1877, aged three years; Wendell, who died in 1879, aged three years; Calvin; Ethel, a daughter.

The daughters, after receiving their education, went with their mother to Europe, in care of Miss Meta D. Iluger, principal of St. Catharine school, at New Or -. leaus, where they spent the summer and fall of 1882, visiting all the capitals of the continent. Judge Fen- tress, himself, visited Europe, in 1883, to make a per- sonal study of its civilization and form a satisfactory es- timate of its people.

As to religion, Judge Fentress, his wife and family are members of the Presbyterian church, of which he has been an elder. In regard to politics, the Fentresses, so far as known, have all been Democrats. The Judge is no exception. He is a decided Democrat, though but little of his time and thought have been devoted to partisan interests. His duties and interests as a lawyer have engrossed his attention for many years. There is not a lawyer in the State who has more exclusively dedi- cated himself to his profession than he. Nothing has been permitted to divert his mind from the duties he has undertaken, and a most brilliant and gratifying suc- cess has been his reward.

Personally, Judge Fentress is most highly esteemed by his immediate follow-citizens. He has never been a seeker after popularity, and what he enjoys is simply the result of an upright life and a strict attention to his own business. In 1859, he became a Master Mason, and afterwards took the Chapter and Council degrees.

Though Judge Fentress resides, eight months in the year, at. No. 207 St. Charles street, New Orleans, he still retains his citizenship in Hardeman county, Ten- nessee. He clings with affection to his native State.

y R Godwin

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PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

JOIIN R. GODWIN.

MEMPHIS.

T THIS eminent merchant, financier and business man, whose career has been so successful, so hon- orable and so praiseworthy, well deserves a place in this volume as an example for the guidance of the youth of the State. He was born in Cumberland county, North Carolina, November 19, 1830, and nine years later moved, with his father, to Middle Tennessee and set- tled near Lewisburg. There he lived eight years, on a farm, attending school meantime at Cedar Springs and Rock creek camp-ground, near Farmington. In 1817, the family moved to West Tennessee and settled one mile from Raleigh, then the county seat of Shelby county. Here he worked on a farm and went to school -never attending college, but received a fair English education at the Raleigh Academy, finishing in 1851. That fall he took charge of a country school, three miles north of Raleigh, and taught one session of five months.

In 1852, he started for California with the rush of emigrants for the gold fields, leaving home February 2, in company with five friends --. W. B. Reaves, now of Coahoma county, Mississippi, James Allen, Elam Pharr, Edward Parsons, and James Wickham-all young men, about his own age, and from the same neighborhood. Proceeding to New Orleans, they took a steamer for Aspinwall, where they arrived about the middle of February, crossed the Isthmus, twenty-seven miles, on foot, and took passage on a sailing vessel, at Panama, for San Francisco. After being at sea for eighty days, they put into the port of San Blas, on the coast of Mexico, having undergone great hardships on account of the scarcity of provisions and water, and losing thirty of the crew and passengers by death. The vessel had been chartered at Panama, but the captain declined to go fur- ther, not having money to reprovision his vessel for the voyage, and most of the passengers were compelled to remain at San Blas for three months. Some of them, tanong whom were all of Mr. Godwin's friends, except Mr. Wickham, took passage on an American bark, bound for San Francisco, and they parted company with him, never to meet again. Mr. Godwin remained be- hind with his friend, Mr. Wickham, who had been taken sick. Finally, they took passage on another American bark, together with about two hundred of the three hundred passengers who had first left Panama, and arrived at San Francisco September 11, after a long, hard voyage, during which they again suffered greatly for provisions and water, having been forty days out from San Blas, and eight months on the trip from home.

At San Francisco Messrs. Godwin and Wickham met Col. William Gift, unele of Mr. Wickham, and an old friend of Mr. Godwin's father, who told them that their

friends at home had given them up for lost, and he had also come to the same conclusion .. After remaining in San Francisco a few days, Mr. Godwin parted with his friend, Mr. Wickham, whom he has never seen since, and went up the Sacramento river to Tehama, where his brother, Allen Godwin, and two friends, Thomas and Moody C. King, who had gone to California two years before, were living. Arriving there he found them the owners of a hay ranch and running teams to Shasta City, sixty miles away in the mining regions, hauling supplies for the miners. Without a moment's delay he sought employment. A brief greeting, an ac- count of his trip, a square meal eaten on a log, and he was ready for work In two hours after his arrival he was assisting Mr. Moody King in baling hay. After a short the he engaged in teaming, which was then con- sidered the most profitable and most honorable business that the country afforded. Mr. Godwin's experiences during his residence in California include many inter- esting incidents. The population on his arrival con- sisted entirely of eager, bold, adventurous men, there being not a woman or child in all the distance of sixty miles between Tehama and Shasta City. The first woman who went into that region was a Mrs. Read, whose husband is still living, near Red Bluff. On one occasion Mr. Godwin and his brother camped on the site of the present town of Red Bluff, at the head of navigation on the Sacramento river, the very night, in faet, that the town was laid off, there being then no sign of a house there. During the night their commissary department was raided by prairie wolves who left them without supplies for breakfast. In July, 1883, Mr. Godwin revisited the spot, and found. one of the most flourishing towns in north California. Upon inquiry he received the sad intelligence that many of the compan- ions of his early days, most of whom had been young men of education and high standing before leaving the east, had turned out badly. Some of them had met violent deaths, while many had contracted evil habits. Those who were still living were scattered over the State. The failure of these friends of his early man- hood was, no doubt, due to the absence of moral and religious influence, and the lack of refined female society.

After he had been with his brother and the Messrs. King about three years, they all sold out and returned to Tennessee together. During the three years and nine days that, Mr. Godwin was in California, he was not out of employment more than nine days. Though an inexperienced boy when he went out, he had been successful and had accumulated about seven thousand dollars. During all his stay, though away from civili zation, and where rough living was prevalent, he had

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not taken a drink of spirits or played a card, an exam- ple which all young men would do well to follow.

On September 20, 1855, he and his companions took passage at San Francisco, on a steamer, for Panama, crossed the Isthmus on the new railroad, which was the first railway that he had seen, and embarked for New York, where they landed October 16, 1855. They then visited Philadelphia and had their savings, which were in gold dust, exchanged for coin at the mint, and pro- eceded direct to Memphis.

He then went to visit his father at the old homestead, and for the next two years was not engaged in any regu lar business. In the fall of 1857, he went into merchan- dising, in partnership with. Mr. J. W. A. Jones, at Batesville, Panola county, Mississippi, a new town. on the Mississippi and Tennessee railroad, where he helped to build the second house that was erected in that town. At Batesville he remained until the spring of 1860. Having married in the meantime, and desiring to get into a more healthy locality with his family, he closed out his business, which was in a prosperous condition. moved to Drew county, Arkansas, and bought a planta- tion near Monticello, and there engaged in planting. After the war begun he moved to Ashley county, Ar- kansas, and bought a plantation on Bayou Barthol- onew. He had invested his money in slaves, mules and farming supplies, all of which were swept away by the war. His father having died in 1857, he became the guardian of seven half-sisters and two small half- brothers: these, with the step-mother, had removed and settled in the same neighborhood with him, Drew county, Arkansas, in 1860. The care of this large and helpless family, in a new and strange country, to- gether with his own young wife and two small children, prevented him from going into the war during the first two years.

In the early part of 1863, he entered the First Arkan- sas regiment of cavalry as a private in company D, com- manded by Capt. J. A. Jackson. He was connected with the army of Gen. Price in the division of Fagan and brigade of Stemmons, and served in Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana. He was with Price in 1861, on his famous raid through north Arkansas, Missouri and into Kansas, returning by way of Fort Scott and crossing the Arkansas river about sixty miles west of Fort Smith. He took part in all the many battles of this raid. After the surrender of most of the other southern troops, his command disbanded on Red river, above Shreveport, and he returned to his home May 5, 1865. Though he had it in his power to obtain promotion, his only ambi- tion was to make a good private soldier, and after the war his commander, Gen. Slemmons, said that he had no superior, as such, in his command.

Reaching home he found his family in very bad health, and as soon as they were able to travel. he removed them to his father-in-law's, in Shelby county, Tennessee, while he continued planting in Arkansas. He also en

gayed in merchandising, taking the first stock of goods to Ashley county that was carried there after the war. In the spring of 1866, he gave up merchandising, and in the fall of 1867, sold out his planting interests in Arkansas, and settled on a farm which he had bought in Shelby county, Tennessee, in 1866. In September, 1869, he went into business at Memphis, as a cotton factor and commission merchant, at first alone, but after five or six months he associated with him Mr. Robert Spillman, and formed the firm of Godwin & Spillnan, which was dissolved after one year on account of the ill health of Mr. Spilhnan. After this Mr. Godwin continued alone for five years, under the firm name of J. R. Godwin & Co., and then took as partners his brother-in-law, L. D. Mullins, jr., and Mr. S. M. Mc- Callum. and continued under the same firm name till 1882, when Mr. McCallum left the business, which has been conducted by Mr. Godwin and Mr. Mullins till the present time. . Mr. Godwin is now the head of a firm which, by careful management, has always been successful. and does now a business of about three quarters of a million dollars a year, while its position among the business houses of Memphis is one of the first.

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 108

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