Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 117

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 117

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Gen. Thurman's father, Samuel B. Thurman, a retired merchant at Lynchburg, now sixty-nine years old, is a native Virginian and a man of remarkable ability and of wide popularity. Truthfulness and punctuality are noted traits of his character. He was educated for a lawyer, and is one of the best read men of his native State. Gen. Thurman's Grandfather, Richard Thus

man, who was generally spoken .of in Lynchburg as "Uncle Thurman" was a well known and prominent character in Virginia. The following sketch of him, taken from the "History of Lynchburg," 1858, pages 131 2. shows that there is good blood in the family, and that they are people of' no ordinary merit and ability : " It is proper to mention in this place the name of Mr. Thurman. a devout member of the church, aiding in its extension by his blameless life and example. When very young he had held, during the Revolutionary war, an employment in the army, and to him were accorded the honor and privilege of residing for a length of time with Washington and LaFayette in that small stone building in the city of Richmond, now so reverenced on account of its distinguished inmates at that time. When Gen. LaFayette visited Richmond, in 1825, · Uncle Thurman ' made him a visit at the place, habited in the same clothes which he had worn whilst living in the stone house with himself and Gen. Washington. The interview was extremely interesting and affecting, LaFayette receiving him with open arms, whilst down the mandy checks of the brave, gallant Frenchman flowed tears of emotion. 'Unele Thurman,' possessed nearly, or quite as much, influence in his church as a minister of the gospel. He, with the other elders of the Methodist church, sat inside the altar, with their faces turned toward the preacher, and whenever a part of the discourse touched them particularly, they expressed audibly their approbation, in such words as, 'Amen; even so, Lord;" 'God grant it.' These express- ions, uttered fervently, so stimulated and animated their preachers, that truly they might have been styled . Boanerges,' for it was then those burning words were uttered which pierced the consciences and entered the hearts of the hearers, so that multitudes would throng theahar, inquiring with tearful, agonized accents, What must we do to be saved?' Mr. Thurman lived to a great age, passing away calmly from earth, and leaving to his numerous descendants the rich inheritance of his blauseless, well spent life."

The same "History of Lynchburg" mentions that Gen. Thurman's great uncle, John Thurman, in the year 1817, established the first Sunday-school in the State of Virginia, in the old Methodist church at Lynch- burg, and that several members of congress owed their first education to that school.

Gen. Thurman's great-grandfather, Richard Thur- man, sr., was a native of Virginia, and of Scotch-Irish descent. He was a soldier in the American Revolution and lived a farmer.

Of the Thurmans who have most illustrated the name in public life, as before mentioned, is that grand old man, Gov. Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, who for many years was United States senator from that State, and the leader of the Democracy in that. august body. No encomia of him are necessary here to freshen the memories of his fellow countrymen as to his exalted

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character, his eminent abilities, his sterling patriotism, his lofty integrity, so grand, so pure, so noble, he well deserves the pet soubriquet of his people, " The noblest Roman of them all."

Gen. Thurman's mother, whose maiden name was Martha Cox, was a daughter of John Cox, of Campbell county, Virginia, descendant of an old English family, who settled in Virginia many years ago, and who, up to the late civil war, ranked as one of the largest land and slave holding families in the Old Dominion, Mrs. Thurman, Gen. Thurman's mother, died in 1861, leav- ing ten children. One of Gen. Thurman's brothers, Edwin R. Thurman, graduated from Vanderbilt Univer- sity, Nashville, in 1882, and is now practicing law at Nashville, Three of his brothers, Powhattan, Alexander and Sammel Thurman, served through the entire war in the Confederate army. Powhattan was present at the first battle of Manassas, and did not surrender until Lee sheathed his sword at Appomattox. Gen. Thur- man's maternal uncle, Samuel Cox, of New London,

Virginia, is now one of the wealthiest farmers and capitalists in his county.

Gen. Thurman married, at Jonesborough, Tennessee, September 12. 1874, Miss Ollie S. Pepper, of Montgom- ery county, Virginia, daughter of Paris G. Pepper, who was at one time a large farmer of that county. Her mother, not Miss Ellen Henderson, is a sister of Giles Henderson, a prominent and influential citizen of Montgomery county, Virginia. Mrs. Thurman was educated at Bristol college and at Richmond, Virginia, and is an accomplished lady, noted for the beauty of her person, the grace of her manners, and her high culture. By this marriage there was born to them one child, Alexander Clarence Thurman, who died when less than three years old. Mrs. Thurman is a member of the Presbyterian church at Bristol, but Gen. Thurman, though a believer in the Christian religion, is attached to no communion. In politics he is an ardent Democrat, though his father was a Whig.

COL. DUFF GREEN THORNBURGH.

ANOAVILLE.

M OST of the family retain the / at the end of the name. but some of the connexion in America have dropped the final letter ; they are all. however, of the same stock. Members of the family first settled in Pennsylvania and Virginia, and are now numerous in Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina.

The father of our subject, Ai Thoruburgh, died at New Market, Tennessee, at the age of ninety years. Ile was a native of Jefferson county, Tennessee. His father, Benjamin Thornburgh, was a native of Virginia, from whence he moved to Tennessee, where he was a farmer, and held the office of justice of the peace for about forty years.

There is something singular in the history of the fam- ily. Very few of the men have died a natural death. yet those that have been killed lost their lives honora bly. Col. D. G. Thornburgh'> brother, Montgomery Thornburgh, was arrested by the Confederates, and died in prison at Montgomery, Alabama, in 1862. Lowery Thornburgh, a cousin, was killed in the battle of Sul- phur Trestle, near Athens, Alabama, in 1864, while a sergeant in Col. D. G. Thornburgh's command, the Third Tennessee Federal cavalry. Maj. T. T. Thornburgh, Col. D. G. Thornburgh's nephew, lost his life while leading his command in the regular United States cay- alry, against the Ute Indians, in 1878. He was a younger brother of Col. J. M. Thornburgh. Two of the Thorn- burghs, of another branch of the family, lost their lives in the Confederate service. It is a long-lived family.

Of Col. Thornburgh's brothers, Montgomery Thorn- burgh was attorney-general of the Second judicial cir- cuit for ten years, and was filling that position at the time of his arrest, above referred to. He had also been State senator six years, from 1816 to 1851. Maj. R. Thornburgh, present member of the State Legislature from Jefferson county. is a merchant at New Market, Tennessee. Dr. J. W. Thornburgh, a practicing physi- cian at New Market, represented Grainger county in the Legislature in 1867-8. He was a soldier in the Mexican war. a sergeant in Capt. Reese's company. Benjamin Thornburgh was sheriff of Bolinger county, Missouri, for six years, and is now county trustee of' that county.

Of Col. D. G. Thornburgh's sisters, Sarah died the wife of Christie Huffaker, in Knox county, Tennessee; Sophia is the widow of Hamilton Neil, and now lives in Texas; Amelia is the widow of Austin Gooch, Grainger county, Tennessee ; Mary Angeline is the wife of JJames H. Peck, of Rutledge, Grainger county, Tennessee.

Of his nephews, Col. J. M. Thornburgh read law un- der his father at New Market, Tennessee : commanded the Fourth Tennessee Federal cavalry in the civil war ; served as attorney-general of the Knoxville circuit sey- eral years ; served in congress three terms, and is now a lawyer at Kuoxville. Maj. Thomas Tipton Thornburgh served in the Sixth Tennessee infantry regiment of the Federal army during the civil war, and afterward com- pleted his education at West Point, and entered the

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regular army with the rank of major. He was killed by the Ute Indians, as before stated.

One of Col. Thornburgh's nieces, Mary Ariana, the daughter of James II. Peck, is the wife of Allen Tate, present attorney-general of the Second judicial circuit.

The great-grandfather of our subject came from Eng- land and settled in Virginia. The grandfather, Benja min Thornburgh, was among the first settlers of JJoffer son county, when the country was full of wild Indians ; was a justice of the peace for many years, and died at the age of ninety odd years. The father, Ai Thorn- burgh, was born in Jefferson county; was a merchant and farmer; a justice of the peace for many years, and a member of the Presbyterian church. He was a man of high temper ; was a friend of the poor ; had the repu- tation of an honest man, and was a pronounced Union man during the war. In politics he was a Whig, but after the war became a Republican. He died at about the age of ninety years.

Col. Thornburghe's mother, whose maiden name was Mary Lansdown, came from North Carolina, an orphan child ; was a devout Christian, and a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church for over half' a cen- tury. She raised all her children to work, regarding labor as honorable and elevating rather than degrading. She also trained them to be self-supporting and self-re- liant. She died at the age of ejebty-eight years.

The subject of this sketch was born at New Market, Tennessee, February 10, 1832, and there grew up and lived till September, 1883, when he moved to Knoxville, where has resided ever since, engaged in mercantile pur- suits. His education was limited to the common schools of the country as they were in his early boyhood. He nor any of his family were ever dissipated or gambled, though full of life and jokes and youthful sports.

Ilis occupation was that of a farmer until the war came on, when he refugeed to the Federal lines in Ken- tucky, and, with Col. Pickens, raised the Third Ten- nessee cavalry, and commanded the regiment in 1863. In 1864, he commanded the Fourth brigade of the Cumberland. He continued in service until the latter part of 1861, having served in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and Mississippi, and was in the battles of Stones River (Murfreesborough), and numerous smaller engagements. Near Corinth, he had his shoulder-straps shot off in an engagement on the skirmish line.

In 1865, he was elected from Jefferson county to the Legislature, and served in the sessions of 1865-6-7-8. He was chairman of the committee on elections and of the committee on claims. The newspapers of Nash- ville were accustomed to speak of him as the " Thad Stevens" of the Legislature, so radical and uncompro mising was he as a Republican member, He was

afterward special claims commissioner of the general government at New Market.

He married in Nashville, June 26, 1866, Miss Albany Della Rien Samuel. Her grandmother, Belinda Scott, of Virginia, was a relative of Gen. Winfield Scott. Mrs. Thornburgh is a graduate of Ward's seminary, Nashville. She is a member of the Methodist church, is lively in her disposition and diffuses cheerfulness in every circle she enters, and her husband says of her, she is a whole team in the kitchen, a whole team in the garden, a whole team in the parlor, a whole team when it comes to books-i. e., in literature-and is noted for her charity and readiness to help the poor and distressed. By his marriage with Miss Samuel Col. Thornburgh has six children : . Charlie. Mary Florence, Ada Dela Rien, Callie Lavinia (died two years old), Blanchie and Frank Pernel.

In politics he was first a Whig and is now a Republican -never having cast a Democratic vote. He was at one time a delegate to the national Republican convention at Chicago,

Ile was made a Mason in 1852, in New Market Lodge, No. 216, and is now a member of the Royal Arch Chapter at Knoxville; is one of the charter members of Coeur de Lion Commandery, No. 9, Knights Templar, at Knoxville. He served as Worshipful Master of New Market Lodge for three years. He is the senior mem- ber of the mercantile firm of Thornburgh & Daniel, Knoxville.

Col. Thornburgh was raised to hard work on a farm. His father never laid a nickel in his hand and said, spend it as you please. What he has he made by hard licks. He says of himself: " I never had any pleasure trips." Hle made some money on the farm, and by trading in stock ; traded in real estate after the war, and made some profit by his speculations. When a boy working for his father, he used to raise potatoes in the missing corn hills, and would buy pigs and calves and fatten them for market, and instead of drinking whisky and living extravagantly, took care of the money he thus made. His rule has been never to take the advantage of a man in a trade or in any other way, but to act honestly and honorably in all his dealings. He uever went security, never sued a man, and was never sued; never had a note to go to protest; always kept his business so that he could put it together in twenty- four hours, if it should become necessary. He never went in debt unless he knew he could pay out of it at the appointed time. Above all things he desires to live an honest man, and to leave a record his posterity will have no cause to be ashamed of.

lle stands six feet two inches high ; weighs two hun- dred pounds; has an unpretentious air, and looks as much like a well-to-do farmer as a city merchant.

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HON. DAVID T. PATTERSON.

HOME.

W HEN Judge Patterson began his career as a lawyer, he attracted marked attention as one of the brighest young men at the bar of East Tennessee. The capacity of his mind was tested by the multitude of cases entrusted to him and the remarkable familiarity which he exhibited in courts with the minutest details of them all. His reliance upon his own judgment through life is illustrated in a casual remark of his to the writer and Mr. A. B. Wilson April 6, 1885. Said he, "When I was on the bench I listened to the evi- dence, made up my mind from the facts, and never list- ened to the arguments of the lawyers unless a new point was presented. Then I made it a rule, as the lawyer proceeded, to try to answer him in my own mind; if I could not answer him I thought his case pretty strong. I sometimes made decisions when the subject was under a cloud, but they were seldom reversed."

As a business man his success attests his superior judgment: But his greatest honor is his family ; a wife universally admired; a son among the most promising business young men in the country, and a daughter, who is in all her qualities, a splendor.

David T. Patterson was born in Greene county, Ten- nessee, twelve miles south of Greeneville, February 28, 1819, and there lived until he was fifteen years old, when his father moved to Greeneville district, South ('arolina, in 1834. The son, however, after spending two years in the old Greeneville college, returned to Greeneville, Tennessee, January, 1838, for the purpose of reading law, which he did in the office of Hon. Rob- ert J. McKinney, late Supreme judge of the State. After reading with him and also without a preceptor about two years, he was admitted to the bar in February, 1841, his license being signed by Judge Samuel Powell and Hon. Robert M. Anderson, the former of the First circuit, the latter of the Twelfth judicial circuit. He commenced practice in 1841, at Greeneville, including the First judicial circuit, and practiced law there till May, 1854, when he was elected judge of the First judi- cial circuit, a position which he filled till 1863, being re- elected in 1862. At the first election his opponent was Hon. James W. Deaderick, now chief justice of Ten- nessee.

In 1863, Gen. Burnside came into East Tennessee with the Federal army and furnished Judge Patterson with two ambulances for the purpose of getting through the lines to Nashville, President Johnson then being military governor of Tennessee, and Judge Patterson's wife, who is a daughter of President Johnson, being anxious to see her father. Judge Patterson took his family, consisting of his wife and two children, Andrew J., and Mary Belle, to Nashville, arriving there in No- vember, 1863, going through by way of Lexington and

Louisville, Kentucky, thence by the Louisville and Nashville railroad. He remained at Nashville until June, 1865, when he went to Washington, shortly after the assassination of President Lincoln, and because President Johnson wanted his daughter, Mrs. Patterson, to take charge of the white house, which her mother, being an invalid, was unable to do.

Judge Patterson is a Democrat, was born a Democrat, but separated from the Democratic party when the ques- tion of secession was presented, and co-operated with the Union party. "Since the war he has voted with the Democracy. He never held political office nor was a candidate for one, except that of United States senator, to which he was elected in April, 1865, over Hon. Hor- ace Maynard, by a majority of twelve. There was no principle at issue in the contest -- the other three can- didates, Horace Maynard, N. G. Taylor, and A. A. Kyle, being, like himself, Union men, therefore, it was a per- sonal contest rather than political. In the senate, he was a member of the committee on commerce, and of the committee for the District of Columbia. He was a member of the court on the impeachment trial of An- drew Johnson, voted against the reconstruction meas- ures of congress, and sustained President Johnson's ad- ministration.

lle was a delegate from the State at large to the Baltimore National Republican convention, in 1864, which nominated President Lincoln for the second term, but did not attend, being absent at West Point Military Academy as a member of the board of visitors that year. In earlier life, he voted for members of the South Carolina Legislature favorable to the election of Martin Van Buren, and voted the Democratic ticket in every presidential election since, except in 1856, when he did not vote for Buchanan, being absent at court, nor did he vote in 1872 for Mr. Greeley, because he thought his nomination a blunder.

During the war, Judge Patterson stood unwaveringly by the Union. He was arrested in November, 1861, by order of Gen. Mollieoffer, under charge of having had something to do with the burning of the bridges in East Tennessee, when the truth was he did all he could to prevent their being burnt, believing it would involve the Union men of East Tennessee in trouble, which it did. After arrest, he was ordered to Tuscaloosa, but was finally released-after going three times to the depot to start for Tuscaloosa-by an order from Richmond ; was paroled on honor and liberated, he having made it appear that he had no hand in the bridge burning.

On March 4, 1869, President Johnson's presidential term and Judge Patterson's senatorial torm simulta- neously expired. He then returned to Greene county, where he has ever since been engaged in the manufact-

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ure of woolen goods and flour, and in farming on his estate at Home, formerly Henderson depot, but changed, at his instance, both the post-office and station, to Home, as the residence and estate of Judge Patterson. In the woolen factory the Home Woolen Company om ploy about twenty hands; on the farm he raises grass and stock, and leads a contented, peaceful and happy life. He was never a member of any secret organiza- tion, nor of any church, though a believer in the Chris- tion religion.

Judge Patterson's paternal ancestry were Irish. His great-grandfather emigrated from Ireland and settled in Pennsylvania first, and afterward in Virginia. The judge's grandfather, James Patterson, was born in Vir- ginia; was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and an elder in the Presbyterian church, of which his wife was also a member. The family on both sides are Presby- terians. James Patterson was a farmer by occupation and a pioneer, having emigrated from Botetourt county. Virginia, in 1783, and settled in Greene county, Ten- nessee, where the Patterson family has been living for more than one hundred years, though Judge Patterson and his two children are the only lineal descendants of' the name now living in that county. James Patterson left four sons, James, Andrew, Nathaniel and Wil- liam.

Andrew Patterson was the father of Judge Patterson. Ile was born in Botetourt county, Virginia, in 1777, and came with his father to Tennessee when only seven years old. Ile was at one time sheriff of Greene county, at another time deputy sheriff, and was clerk of the county court for more than twenty years. He resigned this office in 1834, and immigrated to South Carolina, but left there in 1842, and settled near Independence, Jackson county, Missouri, where he and his wife, Judge Patterson's mother, both died of cholera, in May, 1819, the parents of twelve children, ten sons and two daugh ters, viz .: James A., William, Joseph T., Benjamin F., David T. (subject of this sketch ). Nathaniel G., Andrew Jackson, Martha (married Clarkson), Belle (wife of Tyler Heiskell, of East Tennessee, whom she married in California), Daniel C., Valentine S,, and John. Wil liam Patterson died in 1815, a member of the Missouri Legislature, He was appointed by President Polk, in 1815, register of the land office, at Clinton, Missouri, but died before assuming the duties of the office.

Judge Patterson's mother, Susan Trotter, was born at Leesburg, Washington county, Tennessee, daughter of Alexander Trotter, a mill-wright, originally from Virginia. Her mother, Isabella Carmichael, was a daughter of James Carmichael, of Virginia. Judge Patterson's mother had two brothers, Joseph and Da- vid Trotter. and a half-brother, James G. Guthrie, her mother having married a second time, her last husband being James Guthrie. Judge Patterson's parents were Presbyterians of the blue stocking order ; the father was an elder in the church and died in the faith. The

father was a paper manufacturer in Tennessee and South Carolina, and Judge Patterson says. " If I have any trade it is that of being a paper manufacturer, hav- ing worked two or three years originally in my father's paper mills."

Judge Patterson married (in the house where the editor wrote this sketch, President. Johnson's old home- stead), at Greeneville, Tennessee, December 13, 1855, Miss Martha Johnson, who was born October, 1828, daughter of Andrew Johnson ; was educated at Miss English's school, Georgetown, District of Columbia; was a frequent guest of Mrs. Polk in the white-house while at school, returned home in 1817, where she has remained,ever since, except when with her husband at Nashville and Washington City. She is a lady of en- ergy, of principle, brain and intelligence, and has in- herited both the looks and many of the traits of char- acter of her distinguished father, notably his energy, pluck and brain. .

By his marriage with Miss Johnson, Judge Patterson has two children, Andrew Patterson, born February 25, 1857: Mary Belle Patterson, born November 11, 1859. Andrew Patterson engaged in the manufacture of cotton yarns at Union, Sullivan county, Tennessee, and is a manufacturer of flour by a patent process at Home depot. He was educated at Morristown. Miss Mary Belle Patterson was educated at the Moravian school, at Salem, North Carolina, and at Binghampton, New York, and is worthy of the blood and name she inherits. There is but one word that can describe her and that is splendor. She married, February 17, 1886, John Landstreet, jr., a prominent merchant of Nash- ville, and a member of an old and highly respected Baltimore family.

The secret of Judge Patterson's success in life is at- tributable to two causes-integrity and industry, and his son has inherited these good qualities. When the judge was admitted to the bar he was three hundred dollars in debt, which he paid by hard work. When he was elevated to the bench it was because he had a reputation for integrity and industry, and the people had confidence in his possession of these crowning traits. Is he not a happy man who can say, " I never deceived any man : never defrauded a man out of a cent; never told a man a lie about anything he had a right to inquire of me about?" He is persistent ; never yields. If he sets out to accomplish an object, he never gives up his purpose until its impossibility is demon- strated. When he began the practice of law, he de- termined to be judge of his circuit. In 1819, he was defeated by Judge Luckey, by a very close vote, in the Whig Legislature for the judgeship of the First judi- cial circuit ; but he finally persevered until he accom- plished hi- object.

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 117

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