Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 119

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

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He became a Master Mason at the age of' twenty one, in. Fairfax Lodge, No. 28, and has taken the Chapter and Council degrees. He helped to organize the first Royal Arch Chapters in Brownsville and Ripley, and by special appointment acted as King, when those chapters were organized. Ile was made a Royal Arch Mason at Culpepper Court-house, Virginia, and though not in a chapter for seventeen years thereafter, worked his way into the chapter at Jackson, Tennessee, about 1844, which was a remarkable feat of memory.

From 1812 to 1817, he merchandised at Brownsville, and at Woodville, in Haywood county, five year.

Hle went to Brownsville, in 1828, with four hundred 68

dollars and four negro slaves. At one time he owned property in lands and negroes worth some one hundred thousand dollars. He now owns a farm of three hun- dred aeres, the remnant of six thousand and one acres, which he has sold and given to his children. As a business man, he has been quite a success. His method will be read with interest by the children and grand- children of others besides his own. His principle has ever been to fulfill promptly his appointments, if it were possible. He never tried to cheat a man out of a cent of money he justly owed him. He always tried to keep his credit up in bank and everywhere else, and was careful about contracting small debts, for they are the debts that give most annoyance. Ilis friends have long said of him, " Ile has the vim of a steam engine, and never says ' tired.'" An energetic man, he has also had great staying power, as this record shows. By nature a high tempered boy, his mother counseled him to curb his temper, and to-day he tells the editor that, acting on her advice, he has succeeded in controlling his temper, until now he does not get angry at all. . He has lost many thousand dollars by security debts-a thing of which he is ashamed, but it appears in this sketch as a warning to his posterity that he that striketh hands must smart for it, as Solomon said three thousand years ago.

Gen. Conner first married, in Orange county, Vir- ginia, in 1823, Miss Emily Smith, daughter of John Smith (whose mother, Rebecca lite, was a German lady). Emily Smith was grand-daughter of Urial Mal- lory, whose wife's maiden name was Hannah Cave. Mrs. Conner was a second cousin to Richard M. John- son, vice- president of the United States. The John- sons of Kentucky are of kin to her. Hon. Cave John- son, of Tennessee, was also of kin to her through the Caves, her grandnr ther being a Cave, of Virginia. Mrs. Conner's mother, Sallie Mallory, was the daugh- ter of Urial Mallory, of Orange county, Virginia. She died June 18, 1860, while Gen. Conner was attending the Democratic national convention at Baltimore. By this marriage, Gen. Conner had twelve children, three of whom died in infancy, and one, Lewis Alexander, died in 1819, at the age of twenty years. The others are: (1). John, born January 18, 1821; educated at the Nashville University, under President Lindsley. He married Lucy Verser, daughter of Daniel Verser, of Denmark, Tennessee, and has six children, John, Lizzie, Verser, Calvin, Lucy and Robert I. Chester, Of these, John married Kate Commegys, and has two children, Lottie and Eunett. John Conner served in the Mexican war, in Col. Waterhouse's regiment, and was a favorite seout of Gen. Forrest, under whom he was in a number of hard fought battles in the Con- federate army. Lizzie, born January 4, 1831, is the wife of William White, and has one child, Mary Eliz- abeth. They live at. Ashport, Tennessee. (2). Sarah Mallory, born September 3, 1825; widow of James

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W. Nixon; has six children, James C., George W., Charles P., John Branch, Lida and Linnic. Of these, John Branch Nixon, a druggist at Morrillton, Arkan- sas, married Miss Mattie J. Williams, and has two children, Sarah Mobley and Joseph Williams, Lida is the wife of Seborn Houton, of Texas. (3). Aun Wigginton, born March 12, 1827, now widow of Austin Mann, married first John H. Tanner, of Brownsville, by whom she had two children, William Henry and Emma. William Henry went into the southern army at the age of fourteen, and has never been heard of since. Emma is the wife of Robert Mann, of Haywood county, Tennessee, and has seven children, Clarence, Thomas Jefferson, Tanner, Robert, Olivia and Ruth. Anu Wigginton next married Austin Mann, who died November 1, 1874. (4). Lizzie Lightfoot, born January 4, 1831 ; married Judge Edward J. Read, of Crockett county, Tennessee, and has four children, William C., Maud, Lewis Alexander and Laura. Judge Read died October 31, 1884. (5). Susan S. (the fifth child), born April 27, 1834, is the widow of William A. Partec, and has three children living, Lewis C .. Algernon Old ham and Emma. Of these, Lewis C. is an engineer in the United States government works, and Algernon is in the United States survey service at Ripley, Tennes- sec. (G). Emily V., born January 6, 1836; married Dr. John L. Alston, who was chief of Gen. Cheat - ham's medical staff. He died August 20. 1875. She has one child, a daughter, Annie Laura. Dr. Alsten was one of the most eminent surgeons in the United States, and was noted for his compassion for the human race. Among his surgical operations was taking the spleen out of a wounded soldier named Walden, and thereby saving his life. (7). Charles Henry (Gen. Con- ner's seventh child living), born October 2, 1838, was a West Point cadet, and when the war broke out between the States, he came home, joined the southern army, was made a captain in the First Confederate regiment of cavalry, and when, at Pulaski, Tennessee, Col. H. Clay King and his lieutenant-colonel and major were cap- tured, he took command of that regiment . and com- manded it during the remainder of the war, mostly under the command of tien. Wheeler, but was surren dered under Gien. Forrest at the close of the war. Ile

was wounded at the battle of Paris, Henry county, Tennessee, where he was shot through the thigh. He was the first Confederate wounded soldier brought to Brownsville. He participated in numerous battles, and was in thirty six engagements in thirty two days. He was a great favorite with Gen. Wheeler, his commander and old teacher at West Point. After the war he came home, studied law, and acted sometimes as judge pro tem. He died, April 13, 1881, leaving two children, William Alva and Fuller Spruill, by his first wife, Laura Spruill, daughter of Dr. Joseph Spruill, late of Oswego, Kansas; and one child, Charles Chesnut, by his last wife, Margaret J., daughter of John Chesnut, a planter, of Kentucky. Her mother was a cousin of Gov. Zeb. Vance, of North Carolina. (8). Presley Nevil, born May 22, ISH ; married Ara Botts, daughter of Judge Aaron Botts, a Kentuckian, who died in Memphis. Hle was'a captain in the Confederate army, in the regiment known as the " bloody Ninth," Cheatham's division. He was wounded at Shiloh, in the breast, by a spent ball; at Murfreesborough he was again wounded; at Perryville he was shot around the elbow; and at Chick- amanga he was shot in the thigh and carried off the field of battle. From this last wound he has never en- tirely recovered. He was educated at Oxford, Miss- issippi, studied law at Lebanon, Tennessee, and now lives near his father, engaged in farming. He has seven children, Presley Nevil, Mary Botts, Rosell, Charles Olive, Aaron Botts, William and Henry Tanner.

Gen. Conner next married Sally J. Terrill, daughter of Edmund Terrill, of Orange county, Virginia, related to the Tolls family and to the celebrated Oliver Cromwell, of English history. Her grandfather was Oliver Ter- rill. Her grandmother's maiden name was Susan Mal- lory. Her mother was a Smith. By this marriage Gen. Comer has four children : (1). Seth R., born March 21, 1862. (2). Cornelia Honyman, born April 12, 1861. (3). Robert E. Lee, born December 9, 1868. (4). Wil- lie Terrill, born January 26, 1871.

Thus it will be seen that Gen. Conner has eleven chil- dren living of sixteen born ; thirty one grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren. Twenty-three of his posterity are dead

HEBER JONES, M.D.

MEMPHIS.

H EBER JONES, M.D., of Memphis, is a gentle- man, though of the younger generation, fully entitled to the place which he now occupies among the most eminent and distinguished physicians of Tennes see. Born in Phillips county, Arkansas, September 11,

1818, he left the State while quite young and went to Nashville, Tennessee, where he obtained his prepara- tory education. Later he entered Nottingham Acad- emy, Somerville, Tennessee, and from thence he went to the University of Virginia, where he graduated in

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medicine in 1869. His father having offered to give him the best educational advantages procurable, and to allow him to pursue his studies as long as he wished, after graduating he determined to go to Europe, which he did, spending three years in study in the famous hospitals of London, Paris, Vienna and Berlin, Dur ing his suunner vacations he traveled extensively ou the European continent and in the British isles, With a single friend he traversed Switzerland, from Lake Constance to Geneva, on foot, the only satisfactory way to see and appreciate the beautiful scenery of that country. Returning to the United States in the latter part of 1872, he began the practice of medicine at Mem- phis, and has continued at that place up to the present time.

In 1880, Dr. Jones was elected professor of the theory and practice of medicine in the Memphis Hospital Medical College, resigning the position in 1883. He is a member of the American Public Health Associa- tion ; of the Tennessee Medical Society; the tri-State Medical Association, and several other similar organi- zations. He was for two years secretary of the Memphis board of health, and in the midst of the dark days of 1878 he was selected as health officer for that stricken city. He was a member of the Howard medical corps in that and the following year. Throughout the terri- ble epidemics of yellow fever which scourged his peo- ple in the years 1873, 1878 and 1879, he remained at his post and labored unceasingly at the bedside of the sick and dying, with a zeal and energy which taxed to its utmost the great physical strength with which nature has endowed him.

He became a Mason in 1878, and had the honor of being the first to take a degree in the new Masonic Temple at Memphis, upon which occasion he was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason.

In his political views Dr. Jones adheres to the prin- ciples of the old Whig party, and would belong to it to- day if it were in existence, but in its absence he votes with the Democrats-never, however, having taken any very active part in polities, and never having been a candidate for office.

He was married, December 23. 1873, to Miss Valerie Wooten, of Holly Springs, Mississippi, daughter of John W. Wooten, a citizen of that place. Mrs. Jones is of Scotch-English descent. Her family settled first in North Carolina, and moved thence to Mississippi. She is characterized by amiability of disposition and at- tractiveness of manners. Brilliant in conversation, she is the happy possessor of an easy, genial flow of language;

and meets all persons with a grace and dignity which at once putts them at ease in her presence. When the epi- demic of 1878 broke out she was absent from the city, but in spite of her husband's violent protest, returned to join him while it was at its worst, there being a hundred deaths in Memphis the day she arrived there, and in ten days she was stricken with the fever herself.

Dr. Jones' father, Judge John T. Jones, was born in Essex county, Virginia, moved to Arkansas in 1833, and there became prominent as a planter and a lawyer. He has been prominently identified with the agricultural interests of the State, and has served as Master of the National and State Granges. Prior to the war, he served for fifteen years as judge of the circuit court in Arkan- sas, and then resigned to devote himself to his planting interest. Just after the war he was elected to the United States senate. but did not serve. He is still living in Arkansas, and is a man of strong and decided opinions. He belonged to the old line Whigs, and is still devoted to the principles of that truly grand old party, though he now votes with the Democrats. His father was a farmer in Essex county, Virginia, and a soldier in the war of 1812. His wife. mother of Dr. Jones, was Miss Caroline MeEwen, daughter of Col. Robert H. and Hettie MeEwen, of Nashville, Ten- nessee.

Dr. and Mrs. Jones are both members of the Episco- pal church.

Stability of character and firmness of purpose are two of Dr. Jones' leading traits. His rule is to decide what to do and then do it with his might. He has adhered closely to medicine since 1866. From the time that he was old enough to know the value of study, he has been a hard student. When at the University of Virginia he would study sixteen or seventeen hours a day, and sel- dom took a holiday, and this habit he has kept up. Ile is positive in his nature, and decided in his likes and dislikes ; always takes his position on one side of a ques- tion, and expresses his opinions freely. He is a clear and vigorous thinker, and the thing which strikes one most on seeing him, is the force and energy of the man ; and his conversation, though entirely free from any at- tempt at display, creates at once the impression of one who knows his subject well. He began life with noth- ing but his education, his father, though possessing a good property, being an advocate of the theory of edu- cating a young man and then leaving him to make his own way-a course which is sure to make a man of him if he can be made one.

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HON. OLIVER P. TEMPLE.

KNOXVILLE.

H ON. OLIVER P. TEMPLE has long been a prominent figure among the public men of Ten- nessee. Among the many distinguished traits of char- acter which have marked him as a man of great force, may be mentioned his keen perception of moral truth, and an exemplification of it in his demeanor as a man, a citizen, a judge, and in whatever sphere of life he has been called to act his part. His personal honesty is proverbial. His bitterest enemy, if he has any, of any sort, will concede this fact. His industry and energy are of the highest order, and only equaled by his fidelity to friends and devotion to principle. The same rule of conduct has always marked his connection with public trust which has been ascribed to his personal charac- ter. He is possessed of a large amount of what men call " soul." He is sympathetic and kind, as shown throughout his whole life. He was always popular, as shown in his contest for congress, with Andrew John- son, in 1817. A young man, and without money or political experience, he entered that struggle in the face of a Democratic majority of two thousand, and reduced it, after a joint canvass with Johnson, then in his prime, to three hundred and thirteen votes! This was a remarkable and certainly a memorable campaign, for although Johnson was considered invincible on the stump, Temple made a reputation possessed by few men in the whole country. His popularity began, or rather grew into magnificent proportions on account of this giant-like contest with Johnson, and it continued to grow up to the late war. In 1860, he was on the Bell and Everett electoral ticket for the Second congressional district of Tennessee, and in that campaign and the dis- cussions which followed, he did as much as any one man to mould the Union sentiment which was so con- spicuously displayed by East Tennesseans during the whole war, and which has guided their political action since. . This Union sentiment existed .in the minds of the people by intuition and education, but it required such courageous men as Mr. Temple to cause it to chrys tallize, and lead it to the accomplishment of results. Brave, generous and true, he was accepted as a leader, and the people were quick to seek his counsel and fol- low his advice.

He was one of the best stump speakers in the State before he was thirty-five years of age. His style was pleasing, his voice good, and his gesticulation and ac tion dramatic, especially when under the full inspira- tion of his theme. He was not only an orator but a debater as well, and he never failed to impress his hearers, and most generally won his cause before the tribunal of the people. Long before the war he stood among the foremost lawyers at the Knoxville bar,

which was always strong, but never stronger than dur- ing this period. Subsequent to the war, he became chancellor, first by appointment, and afterward by an overwhelming election by the people. His judicial career of twelve years was admirable and noted, and demonstrated him a wise jurist, with large knowledge of the law as laid down in books, a conscientious, seru- pulous and upright judge.

Oliver P. Temple was born in Greene county, Ten- nessee, near Greeneville, and within one mile of Greene- ville College, January 27, 1820. His father was JJames Temple, a well educated gentleman, of a quiet disposi- tion and high integrity, and greatly respected for his many virtues. Hle was a farmer and the owner, at his death, of six hundred acres of land, and a few slaves. He was also a surveyor, but this was rather an accom- plishment than a profession, and no mean one, nearly a hundred years ago. He died in 1822, at the age of about fifty years,

The mother of Judge Temple was Mary Craig, eldest child of Capt. Craig and Jane Innis Burns. Capt. Craig was born in York, Pennsylvania, served as captain in the Revolutionary war, and at one time commanded the personal guard of Gen. Washington. He was a man of great daring and gallantry, and of a command- ing person. He received a bayonet wound in the face, probably at the battle of Brandywine. Six of his brothers were also in the Revolutionary army. After the close of the war, he settled in South Carolina, where he married Jane Innis Burns, of a well known Scotch family Soon after this he moved to Greene county, Tennessee, where he selected a magnificent farm, on the waters of Richland creek, near Greeneville, which remained in the family until three years ago. Jane Iunis Burns was born in South Carolina, daughter of a patriot soldier, who served under Sumter and Ma- rion. Judge Temple's mother was a woman of superior judgment, fine business capacity, strong will, and pos- sessed of great gentleness and amiability. When left a widow in 1822, with seven minor children, she so man- aged her estate as to nearly double it by the time the youngest reached maturity, and at the same time gave them the advantages of a fair education. She and James Temple were united in the bonds of matrimony in 1810, by Rev. Charles Coffin, D. D. the celebrated president. of Greeneville College, who was their neighbor and ever afterward their warm friend. They were both Presbyterians. On the maternal side, all of Judge Temple's ancestors were of Scotch descent, as Craig, Burns and louis are well known and prominent Scotch family name .

His paternal grandfather was Maj, Temple, of English

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descent, and of an old English family. His ancestors probably settled in Ireland as a part of the colonists sent over by one of the English monarchs, to whom were granted large districts of forfeited lands, or they went over with the Puritans to occupy lands confiscated by Cromwell in 1611. Sir William Temple was a privy councilor of Ireland, owned large estates there, and it is possible that some of his poorer relations, who then settled with him in Ireland, were the ancestors of Judge Temple's grandfather. They were all Presbyterians Maj. Temple was born in Pennsylvania, in 1736, and moved to Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, in 1766. In 1780. he was with the North Carolina forces in the celebrated battle of King's Mountain. In 1785, he moved to Greene county, Tennessee, and selected a farm on Richland creek, adjoining the farm of Rev. Hezekiah Balch, the founder of Greeneville College, and on which farm the college was established. These two persons probably came from North Carolina to- gether, as their farms were entered the same day, and each called for the line of the other. Both were Pres- byterians, and both had lived in the same county in the old mother State. This Hezekiah Balch was a cousin of the celebrated Hezekiah J. Balch, who drafted the Mecklenburg declaration of independence. The Tem- ple farm remained in possession of the family until a few years ago, when it was sold for division among the heirs.

Judge Temple's, paternal grandmother was Mary Kennedy, a relative of Gen. Daniel Kennedy, well known in the early history of East Tennessee, and was the aunt of Gen. Thomas Kennedy, who was a man of great wealth, and quite distinguished in the early his- tory of Kentucky. The Kennedys were of a leading Scotch family. The Temple family, as far back as it can be traced, has been exceedingly respectable and well connected. As an evidence of this, five female consins of Judge Temple married five respectable Pres- byterian ministers.

The subject of our sketch was raised on the farm, and, like the boys of that day, worked during the suin- mer and went to old field schools in the winter. He has always rejoiced in the fact that he had this early espe rience in the hardships and toils of farm life, as it has given him a quicker sympathy for, and more liberal views concerning, the great laboring classes. At six- teen, he attended Greeneville College, but was little inclined to regular, hard study. At nineteen this ven- erable old college having gone down, he attended Tus- culum Academy, in Greene county, then under the con- trol of Rey. Samuel W. Doak, a celebrated teacher in his day. Here he applied himself more diligently to his books. In the fall of 1811, he went to Washington College, then just resusciated under the presidency of that brilliant young scholar, Rev. A. A. Doak. Wash . ington College was founded in 1780, in the wilderness of Washington county, by the justly celebrated Rev.

Samuel Doak, then fresh from the halls of Princeton. This was the first institution of learning west of the Alleghanies, and for a great many years the leading one. It was originally chartered by the Legislature of North Carolina as Martin Academy. In 1795, the territorial Legislature of Tennessee chartered it under the name of Washington College, "in honor of the illustrious president of the United States," as the caption of the act recites. The elder Doak was a remarkable man, as all tradition and authentic history proves. He was distinguished for intellect, learning, and wonderful will power. His grandson, A. A. Doak, was a worthy rep- resentative of his celebrated ancestor. In elegant learning, he has, perhaps, never had an equal in the State, and as a chaste and brilliant preacher, he has had but few equals. Unfortunately he died at Clarksville, Tennessee, before he had reached his prime in life, leaving a brilliant son, H. M. Doak (lately editor of the Nashville American, and now of the Memphis Aca- lanche), to perpetuate the name of the long line of Doaks.

At Washington College young Temple pursued his studies with great assiduity, graduating in 1844. . He was immediately tendered a professorship in the college, which he declined. On leaving college, he at once en- tered into polities, making speeches for Mr. Clay, in Carter, Washington, Greene, Cocke, Jefferson and Sul- livan counties. A few months later he commenced reading law, under the direction of the late Judge Robert J. MeKinney. 'In the same class were F. W. Compton, since one of the Supreme judges of the State of Arkansas, Robert II. Armstrong, of Knoxville, John K. Howard, afterward a well known and brilliant young politician of the State, and John A. Mckinney, re- cently circuit judge of the first judicial circuit.

In 1816, Messrs. Temple, Howard, Armstrong and Compton were all admitted to the bar. Compton and Temple formed a partnership, and located at Greene- ville. Messrs. Compton, Howard and Temple all made their debut as lawyers in the same case, before Judge Alexander, and were all complimented publicly by him, from the bench, for their efforts,

In July, ISIT. Mr. Temple became a candidate for compress against Andrew Johnson, then a candidate for re election for his third or fourth term. The first sug- gestion of his candidacy came from Gov. NeillS. Brown, then the Whig candidate for governor of the State. A few others having joined in this suggestion, Mr. Temple took the bold, and to many the astounding step, of con- testing the field with the invincible Johnson. It was less than four weeks until the election. Johnson had already been over the district making speeches. He had his followers and friends in every county, who nearly idolized him. He was regarded as the ablest and most adroit debater on the Democratic side in the State. His prestige, too, was great. He had been elected each time he had been a candidate by over-

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 119

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