Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 114

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

USA > Tennessee > Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee > Part 114

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This was an era of great surprises. In February, 1861, the State of Tennessee declared her purpose of abiding by the Union. In eseention of his previously formed purpose, however Brown went to Memphis, landing there just twelve days before the bombardment of Fort Sumter. This event took place April 12, 1861, and caused a vast revulsion of feeling throughout the South All this is a matter of history, and it need only be said of Brown that, though opposed to secession on principle, and believing it to be both unnecessary and inexpedient. he ranged Himself' with the southern States when the first gun announced that war was no longer avoidable

He joined the southern army in 1802, after the Fed- eral occupation of Memphis, entering it, as most men did in those days, as a private in the ranks. He soon. how- ever, received an appointment from President Davis as judge advocate of Polk's corps of the army of Tennessee, commanded, after the battle of Mission Ridge. by Gen. Hardee. He continued on duty in this corps from the battle of Stones River to the surrender at fireensbor- oughe during this time he only received two leaves of also pos which occasioned only thirty days absence from his command in all His relations with tiens. Polk and Harder were of the most intimate tal ami- dential nature, implying the utmost confidence in his abilities on the part of the distinguished comman-

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ders, by whom efforts were made to have him a com- mand in the line

The war ended. he resumed the practice of his pro fusion in Memphis, having, like most southern men, lost all of his savings during that great civil struggle. The leading object of his exertions now wa to give his children a thoroughly good education, in which he has been entirely successful. His name has been associated with nearly all the remarkable and prominent cas which have been heard in the courts of Memphis. yet, in spite of the arduous duties they described. In found time to devote his talents to the relief of Ten nessee and especially, of Memphis, from the corruption and oppresion of radical rule and from the rain and prostration which it left behind. By tongue and pen, by counsel and active effort. be added prominently in achieving final success in restoring the State to the con- trol of the people.

In 1868 he was appointed by the Democratic State convention on a committee to procent before the national Democratic convention at New York the protests of the State against the iniquities of the " carpet-bag and scallaway government.' In this mission he was associ. ated with the Hons. James E. Bailey. John C. Brown. Albert Pike and Gen. A. P. Stewart. The duty of preparing the report was assigned by the committee to Judge Brown, and in less than twenty four hours it was written. and, on the second day of the convention. was presented and read to thousands in Tammany Hall. and created marked scusation. It was the first effective blow that was struck at the hateful dom- ination of the carpet bagger. It was printed in all the leading papers North, both Democratic and Re publican, the former vigorously endorsing its dumm- ciations the latter protesting against being held respon sible for the iniquities that had long been sanctioned under the name of reconstruction. This was equiva lent to practical un mining in condamnation of the sy's tem, and, in fact. it commenced yielding to the force of public opinion from that time, and, though it died hard. its death had become a foregone conclusion

This repudiation, by the North of the radical sos ernicht in Tennessee mmide po bleth divi on in the ing the sentiment of mathem Republicanismo the latter representing that of Tennessee Radicalism. This di vision resulted in the emancipation of the State and the enfranchisement of the ex Confederate citizens. . But for this report no such happy occurrence would have transpired, in all probability. for many years, The' breaking up of radicalism in Tennessee paved the way for the downfall of the radical governments of the other southern State . which followed in rapid success ion. The value of this report is difficult to estimate. It - results have been benefice it to the State of Tennis see and to the whole South. All honor. then, to Judge Brown and his noble compatriots. The pen of history

records for them the gratitude of a redeemed State and a disenthralled people.

Judge Brown has occasionally pryed on the com- mission authorized by the State Legislature to aid in dearing of the accumulation of business which had completely blocked the proceedings of that court

He has, also, occasionally, acted as judge in various cases where a special judiciary officer was demanded, and in this capacity he sat upon a case of primary im- portance and great celebrity that of Mary e. the Bank of West Tennessee In this case be first determined the extent of a discharge under the recent bankrupt law, and in his investigation for that purpose. he collected all the bank rupt laws of England and the several States of the Union. At cho instance of Judge Hammond. of the United States district court at Memphis, this judg- ment was forwarded to the judiciary committee of the United States senate, which had then before it a na- tional bankruptcy law, to aid them in the preparation of that measure. It afterward. on an appeal, came before the Supreme court of the United States, and its con- firmation stands on the minutes. Moreover. the court did what no Supreme court bad ever done before -- ex- cept as to Judge Reuse-paid a special compliment to the judge below for its exactitude and completeness.

Judge Brown married, December 8, 1819. Miss Sarah Ann Craig, daughter of John Craig. of Lincoln county, Kentucky. Her mother was a Miss Aun Gaines, whose father was a Revolutionary soldier. She is of Virginia descent on both sides. She is a lady of very superior mind, finely educated. accomplished and cultured. She exerts a controtiing influence in society, and for years has been among the foremost in promoting the active charities of Memphis Judge and Mrs. Brown have four children living: (1). Emisa Wooldridge Brown, graduated at Lausanne, Switzerland: married George B. Morton, of Virginia how of Allegheny City, Penn- ylvania, and has three children. George B .. Nellie and Wouldand . (2). Robert Grattan Brown, after spend ing two years in Switzerland, graduated at the Univer- sity of Virginia: studied law. was admitted to the bar at Memphis after a very satisfactory examination, where he is now practicing lave. (3) Thomas Wooldridge Brown. graduated . Davidson College, North Carolina ; How engaged in banking at St. Louis. He was for a while editor of the Pine Bluff ( Arkansas) Commercial. (1). John Henry Brown. educated at Davidson College, North Carolina; now in commercial life in St. Louis.

Judge Brown lost one of his children, William Craig Brown, who died six years old

In his religious views, Judge Brown is very independ- ont. but was reared in the Presbyterian church. He is a director in the Germania Banking Company at Memphis ; was presidential elector for Scott, in Kon- In. ly. i 152, was elected delecate to two conventions ( Donela Democratic, and Bell and Everett, Whig), held at Louisville, Kentucky, in Jac0, and was on the

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joint committee appointed to report on the situation. At twenty-two years of age he was offered, by George D. Prentice, a handsome salary to become assistant editor, with him, of the Louisville Journal, then the most influential newspaper in the West or South, but this he declined, preferring to devote himself exclu- sively to his profession.

About this time he also declined a nomination for lieutenant governor of Kentucky on the Whig ticket, with Judge Loving as nominee for governor. Ili- reason for declining was. that he did not consider the head of the ticket strong enough to win the race, thus throwing upon a very young man, having the second place on the ticket, the burden of the canvass. The Democrats had nominated for governor an exceptionally strong man, Hon. Beverly Clark. The correctness of Brown's judgment was soon evidenced by the with- drawal of Loving and putting in his stead the Hou. Charles F. Morehead, who was well known all over the State and had a large personal following. Notwith- standing his strength in this regard. he beat Clark by only about five thousand votes.

Judge Brown has not been a continuously laborious man, though capable of long and intense labor on spe- 1

cial occasions. Yet on the other hand, he has been a constant reader, and his reading has been thoroughly assimilated and incorporated with his naturally power- ful mind. Besides, his reading has been of a select character, and he has made it an invariable rule to work whatever material he obtained from standard literature into his mental structure, thus making it his own. He has thought more than he has read, and has no respect whatever for a merely bookish man. At the commence- ment of his career he was not a fluent speaker, but ac- quired the faculty of ready speech from the constant habit of composition in writing. For several years he reduced-to manuscript every important speech he made, either at the bar or on the stump. He was likewise a constant writer of editorials. Continuing this course, he became by degrees a rapid composer, and at last ceased to need manuscript for any speech, political, forensic or literary, that he was called upon to make. He is gen- erally credited with the ability to make his great efforts with but little labor, but this reputation he disclaims, thinking it more creditable to devote his whole powers to the preparation of the business in hand, giving to his clients and to the public the best of his eapa- bilities.

REV. A. W. JONES, A.M., D.D.

JACKSON.

T HE Memphis Conference Female Institute, of which this gentleman has been president since 1853, was founded in 1844, has graduated four hundred and ninety-five alumna, and ranks among the most popular colleges in the southern States. In addition to the usual curriculum, it has a commercial department. requiring of its graduates a thorough practice in all the devices of business. It also has an art department, a normal class, a good library, an extensive apparatus, and a cabinet. The prosperity and standing of the school is so largely due to its management under the presidency of Dr. Jones, that a sketch of his life is of more than ordinary interest. History is but the lives of a few individuals who have left their impress on their times and given shape to measures that influenced suc- cessive generations.

Dr. Jones was born in Franklin county, North Caro- lina, December 28, 1815, and spent his youth there on his father's farm, and knew nothing else until he went to Randolph Macon College, Virginia, where he gradu- ated, in 1839, and at once commenced teaching in the same institution as principal of the preparatory depart ment, a position which he filled two and a half years, and then traveled four years in the North Carolina conference as an itinerant preacher. In 1811-5, his

health failed, in Newbern, North Carolina, where he was stationed.

In 1815, he came to Jackson, Tennessee, and took the chair of mathematics and languages in the school of which he has been president thirty-one years. After teaching there six years he took a professorship in West Tennessee College, and remained there two and a half Year's

In 1853, he was elected president of the Memphis Conference Female Institute, and at once erected, at his own expense, the west wing of the institute, in which the school is conducted, the other buildings being de- voted to boarding the pupils.

Dr. Jones was converted in 1829, at thirteen years of age. From boyhood he felt the impression that he was called to the ministry, but decided that point while at college. Indeed, as soon as converted, he commenced praying and exhorting, and was a most zealous Chris- tian from the first. . He never sowed " wild oats," never knew what it is to be wicked. The most useful part of his life, he thinks, was while in college, in having a marked religious influence over his fellow students and associates. He has belonged only to two conferences, the North Carolina and the Memphis, Some of his lit- erary addresses have been published, and evince the

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possession of a high order of literary and scholarly attainments.

In 1855, he became a Mason in Jackson Lodge, No. -15, and since then has taken all the degrees of the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Council and Commandery, and bas filled the highest positions in all of them. In 1850, he was Eminent Commander. He was in carly times a member of the order of the Sons of Temperance, a cause which he has always favored.

In polities he was never fully identified with any party. though acting always in sympathy with the South, but has been independent in this as in everything che. He has through life been guided by his own conviction ;. In the conduct of the institute, he has absolute con- trol-is the head, heart and soul of the school. His personality is so marked that he can work only in his own harness, and he impresses his individuality upon everything he engages in. The key to his success is, that he is very individual. He has raised his own chil- dren without special regard to anybody's views. What else is there for a man to do, but to see with his own eyes, wear his own head, do his own thinking, act on his own judgment, take the consequences of his own actions and finally give account of himself' to God? This rule of conduct is, perhaps, the only true manhood. This independence in the mental make-up of Dr. Jones is evident, even in the tone of his voice, which indicates a man of positive character and decided convictions, and but for the kindness, gentleness and affection equally apparent, he would pass for a stern man and appear abrupt in his manners. In personal appearance, however, he is elegant and dignified : in manners gentle, sympathetic and kind.

Dr. Jones first married, in Warren county, North Carolina, February 12, 1811, Miss Caroline M. Blanch. of a Virginia family, who died the same year of their marriage -- December 14, 1811. From this marriage re- sulted one child, Rev. Amos Blanch Jones, A. M., now president of the Huntsville (Alabama), Female College. He was the captain of a company in the Confederate army, and served through the war, taking a gallant part in the battles of Murfreesborough, Shiloh, Missionary Ridge, and many other minor engagements, He was wounded two or three times, He married Miss Mary Gates, of Egypt, Mississippi, and has two children, Amos Wesley and James Taylor.

Dr. Jones' second marriage, which occurred at Pitts- borough, North Carolina, October 4, 1813, was with Miss Mary Eliza Womack, a native of that place, daugh- ter of Green Womack, a merchant. Her mother was a Miss Taylor, of North Carolina. By this marriage, Dr. Jones had six children, four of whom died in infancy .. i The two surviving are : (1). Dr. J. T. Jones, graduated M.D., at. Baltimore; now a practicing physician at Jackson, Tennessee. He married Miss Belle Gates, sis ter to the wife of his brother, Amos, and has two chil- dren, Newton Gates and Mary Eliza. (2), Marianna

Jones, now wife of Dr. W. Bond Dashiell, of Kaufman, Texas; has two children, Bond and Mary Womack.

Dr. Jones' third marriage occurred at Jackson, Ten- nessee, April 2, 1857, to Miss Amanda Childs Bigelow, who was born in that city, daughter of Elijah Bigelow. of Massachusetts, one of the earliest settlers of Jackson, a teacher and a lawyer. Her mother. also a native of Massachusetts, was originally Miss Maria (. Childs, daughter of Amariah Childs and his wife. Ruth, nee Larkin, of Lynn, Massachusetts, Mrs. Jones' mother taught school in Jack on forty years teaching three generations. She was a highly educated lady and a de- voted Presbyterian. By his marriage with Miss Bige- low, Dr. Jones has had five children : (1). Ida Bigelow Jones, born January 28, 1858; died at Chautauqua, New York, August 16, 1884. twenty-six years of age. She was educated in her father's institute and became a very celebrated elocutionist, and taught in her father's school. She was a controlling spirit, exerting great influ- ence, even over her devoted father, in the management of the school, and had the name of the highest model of woman. She gave great popularity to the elocutionary department of the institute. (2). George C. Jones, born August 29, 1859 ; graduated at the Southwestern Baptist University, Jackson, Tennessee, at the age of seventeen ; graduated at the Vanderbilt University, Nashville, in his twentieth year, in the first graduating class of that institution ; taught in his father's school two years; went to Berlin, Germany, spent a year in the Berlin University, studying sciences, and is now professor of natural sciences and languages in the Memphis Confer- ence Female Institute, at Jackson, Tennessee. (3). Ed- die Childs Jones, died three and a half years old. (1). Charles Fuller Jones, died in infancy. (5). Ammatelle Jones, born December 8, 1869; now in the senior class in her father's institute.

Dr. Jones' grandfather Jones was a Welshman, came from Wales soon after the Revolutionary war, settled first in Preston, Virginia, and afterward in Franklin county, North Carolina.

The Doctor's father, Rev. Amos Jones, was a magis- trate, local preacher, a farmer and "a man of all trades," blacksmith, wheelwright and carpenter, taking up these pursuits as necessity required, but never following either exclusively. He was a very original character; followed his own convictions decidedly and independ- ently ; was strong in physical constitution and in mind ; a man of positive opinions -- there was nothing negative about him. Yet in his nature he was very passionate and sympathetic-weeping often in his preaching. . Be- sides, he was very energetic and industrious. He lived seventy-five years, and died within three feet of the spot where he was born, in Franklin county, North Carolina.

Dr. Jones' mother, nee Mary Myrick, was a very mild, affectionate woman. She raised a large family, six sons and six daughters, all of whom lived to adult age. She

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died in Milledgeville, Georgia, at her father's, forty-six years old. Of her children, Rev. Turner M. Jones, D. D., is now president of the Greensborough (North ('arolina) Female College. Jordan. F. Jones is a very prosperous merchant, mechanic and owner of flouring mills in Franklin county, North Carolina. Two of the daughters married Methodist preachers; the others married farmers.

Dr. Jones began life with but little money, gained some by marrying, the balance he has made. When he began studying, he had no confidence in himself, but in a year was ranked among the first, and from that time on- was first grade in everything-graduating the vale-

dictorian of his class. His inclination is to be first based upon a conviction of duty to do what he under- takes as a Christian. He is also ambitious to be first in the ministry, first in teaching-to be a leader, a disposition that runs through his whole family-to lead, to control in what they undertake, not to be followers, but managers of affairs. His whole soul has been in, the Memphis Conference Female Institute for thirty years, and wherever he goes, his school is on his mind, His mind is essentially mathematical, as evidenced by the system that prevails in his school. Ilis life is a rythm, wonderfully regular. He consults friends, but finally acts on his own judgment.

BENNETT G. HENNING, M. D.

MEMPHIS.

T HE subject of this sketch was born in Durham- ville, Lauderdale county, Tennessee, October 16, 1849, and was raised on a farm until twenty years of age. HIe received his literary education at the Tipton High School, at Covington, one of the oldest schools in West Tennessee, his teacher being Mr. James Byars, who has been principal of the school for more than thirty-five years.

At an early age, young Henning made up his mind to become a physician, and, therefore, after leaving the Covington school, in 1868, went immediately to the Jef- ferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, remained one session and next entered the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, where he graduated in 1870. Ile was then appointed senior interne at the Jersey City Charity Hospital, and remained in charge of that insti- tution for twelve months. Returning to Tennessee, he located in Memphis, and became connected with the old Memphis Medical College, having charge of the city dispensary from January, 1871, to March, 1872.

In March, 1872, he went to Europe, and pursued his studies in the medical schools of England, France and Germany, and after traveling over Europe, returned to Memphis during the yellow fever epidemic of 1873, and resumed his practice. In 1878-79, he reported the first cases of yellow fever, against the sanction of the board of health, and created considerable excitement thereby. He believed that the best way to fight the fever was to let it be known as soon as possible and get away from it, and this he advised his patrons to do, yet he bravely remained among them and practiced till he had gotten them all out of the city. He was one of the founders of the Memphis Hospital Medical College, and was its professor of the principles and practice of surgery from its foundation up to January, 1884, when he resigned on account of ill health. In order to recuperate his wasted

energies, he gave up his practice and left the city for fifteen months, returning in the early part of 1886. His' health being fully restored, he resumed the duties of his profession and is now in full practice. He has also been re-elected to a professorship in the Memphis Hos- pital Medical College, to fill the chair of materia med- ica and therapeutics, recently made vacant by the death of Dr. S. Il. Brown, He is a member of the State Medical Society of Tennessee, the tri-State Medical Society, the West Tennessee Medical Society, and the Shelby Medical Society. His practice has always been large, and he stands in the front rank of advancing physicians and surgeons in Tennessee.

Dr. Henning has always been a Democrat, but has taken no part in polities whatever, except to go to the polls and cast his vote. He became a Master Mason at Memphis, in 1883, and an Odd Fellow at the same place several years ago. Ile has never held any office in the lodge or out of it, and has never been a candidate for any office, thinking that to practice medicine a man should follow that and nothing else. He is also a mem- ber of the Knights of Honor and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His father, Dr. D. M. Henning, whose sketch and family history will be found elsewhere in this volume, is a native of Georgia, moved to West Tennessee at a very early day, and was one of the pio- neers of that country. Ile, also, is a graduate of Jef- ferson Medical College ; has always been a temperato and religious man, and has met with marked success, not only as a practitioner of medicine, but as a mer- chant and real estate dealer, having accumulated one of the largest fortunes in Lauderdale county. He is now' seventy-one years of age and resides at Henning, on the Chesapeake and Ohio and Southwestern railroad, a town which was named for him, and the subject of this sketch. He has also built up the town of Gates on the same

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road. lle was instrumental in the construction of the road, and was at one time its vice-president. His father was a Methodist minister in Georgia, and his mother was a Miss Meriwether, of an old and distinguished fim ily who figured extensively in Revolutionary times, The mother of the subject of this sketch, was Miss Ann B. Greaves, daughter of Bennett Greaves, of South Carolina, a gentleman of French descent, who moved to West Tennessee at an early day, and was a planter there.

Dr. Henning was married, in 1874, to Miss Cornelia F. Frayser, daughter of Dr. John R. Frayser, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Hen-

ning is a member of the Methodist church, of which church Dr. Henning has also been a meniber for the past twenty years.

Dr. Henning has been a lover of learning and a hard student from his early boyhood, temperate in his habits and an obedient son. His ambition lies within his pro- fession-a pursuit which he follows with enthusiasm and fidelity, and persistently leaves all other things alone. He early made a resolution never to seek public office, which he regards as one of the worst things a medical man can do. Young in years, but old in observ- ation, the future that spreads out before him is one full of promise, and, without doubt, full of success.

CHRISTOPHER L. HARDWICK.

CLEVELAND.

W ITHOUT doubt, one of the best representative business men of Tennessee, one to whom the State can point with pride for his energy, enterprise and integrity, is Mr. Christopher L. Hardwick, the banker and merchant at Cleveland. He was born in Bradley county, Tennessee, February 14, 1827, the son of John W. Hardwick, a native of Georgia, at one time a com- missioner for removing the Cherokee Indians from Tennessee, for a long while a planter, and from 1836 to 1844, a hotel keeper at Cleveland: He died in 1853, at the age of fifty-four. Politically, he was a very strong Whig; religiously, a very strong Methodist ; a vigorous, independent man-a leader in politics in his town and day. For a considerable time he ran a tannery, and afterward a brickyard, and built some of the first brick houses put up in Cleveland. He owned some fifteen slaves, and was only moderately successful in . business, though he always lived well and had plenty.

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 114

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