Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 14

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

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Mr. Estes married, first, May, 1854, Miss Sarah Jane Johnston, daughter of James Johnston, a leading farmer of Madison county, Tennessee. Her mother was a Miss Alston, daughter of Philip Alston, of the same county. Mrs. Estes was educated at Trenton, Tennessee, and was remarkable for the beauty of her

person, the grace of her manners and the gentleness and purity of her character. She died in 1867, at the- early age of thirty-two, leaving six children: (1). Bedford M. Estes, jr., who died in 1873. (2). Mollie L. Estes; graduated at the Augusta Female Seminary, Staunton, Virginia; is a superior musician, and has much merit as a literary writer. (3). Emma A. Estes; graduated from Mrs. Pegram's school, Baltimore, and married James G. Snedecor, a planter in Florida. (4). Sarah Jane Estes; educated at Augusta Female Semi- nary, Staunton, Virginia; married James C. Bell, of Memphis. (5). Ione Estes; spent two years at Augusta Female Seminary, Staunton, Virginia; graduated at Sayre Female Institute, Lexington, Kentucky. (6). Kate Estes, now at Sayre Female Institute, Lexington, Kentucky.

Mr. Estes next married, at Memphis, Miss Lizzie Guion, daughter of II. L. Guion, Esq., deceased, of that . city. Her mother was a Miss McMillan, daughter of Rev. Murdock McMillan, of a North Car- olina family, a distinguished Presbyterian divine, who preached the first Presbyterian sermon in Memphis. Mrs. Estes was educated at Walnut Hill, Rev. Dr. Bullock's school, near Lexington, Kentucky, and also at the Nashville Female Academy, under Rev. Dr. C. D. Elliott. By this marriage Mr. Estes has five children: Lizzie, Henry Witherspoon, Morgan, Blanche and Flora Estes.

Mr. Estes is an elder in the Presbyterian church, and has been from his twenty-seventh year. Mrs. Estes and all of their children old enough are members of the same communion. Mr. Estes was a prime mover in the establishment of the Lauderdale street Presbyterian church, Memphis, secured the contribu- tions for the purchase of the lot and erection of the church building and had it dedicated without debt on it.

In 1861 the Presbyterian church of the United States was divided, and the churches of the southern States formed a separate General Assembly called the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church of the Confederate States. After the close of the war, the name of the assembly was changed to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church in the United States. The church has since maintained its separate organizations. During the war and shortly thereafter the northern church had made deliverances of the bitterest sort against the southern church. Some unsuccessful efforts were made to restore " fraternal relations " between the churches, and in 1874 each church appointed commissioners to meet and arrange plans for the establishment of fraternal relations. The southern church appointed Rev. Dr. William Brown,

S.M. Exles

PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

of Virginia, Rev. Dr. B. M. Palmer, of New Orleans, Rev. Dr. Farris, of Missouri, Chancellor Ingles, of Baltimore, and Mr. B. M. Estes, of Memphis, its commissioners. These commissioners met the commis- sioners of the northern church in Baltimore in 1875, and spent about a week in negotiations. The conference did not succeed in re-establishing fraternal relations at that time, but the terms proposed by the southern commissioners weresubsequently, in substance, accepted, and good fellowship was restored.

Mr. Estes, as a lawyer, has occupied for twenty years a very prominent position at the Memphis bar, and has extended his reputation during that period throughout Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas. Early after the close of the civil war he entered upon one of the largest and most lucrative practices in the southwest, and was engaged in the heaviest and most important cases in his section of the country. He has held his position at the bar in the midst of a bar at Memphis noted for its learning and ability, and all the time ranked as one of its very ablest members.

The distinguishing traits of Mr. Estes as a lawyer are his critical analyses and thorough mastery of his cases. No amount of labor is spared by him to reach the fundamental principles underlying his cases, and a perfect comprehension of the facts upon which the lawsuit is based. When these are ascertained, he applies to them a clear, vigorous and comprehensive intellect, thoroughly trained in the science of the law.

Mr. Estes has been a very successful lawyer, and stands in the southwest as he deserves to-among the foremost men in the profession of the law.

Mr. Estes has also made a business success of his life. He began on a patrimony of a few thousand dol lars, and is now among the solid men of Memphis, not only financially, but so regarded for his high character , and stern integrity. He is a stockholder in the Bank of Commerce, and in the Hernando Insurance company

and other corporations, besides owning valuable real estate in the city. Faithful and unremitting atten- tion to business, close application to his profession, conscientious discharge of duty, and promptitude in meeting all engagements, pecuniary or other- wise -these are some of the marked characteristics of this man of sterling worth. In court he presents his cases tersely, with directness, and in as few words as possible. When a young man he was frequently a speaker on holiday occasions, but he never wasted language or beat around his subject, for he has always been noted as a man of moral force and earnestness, and devoid of trifling. He was a Whig until the breaking out of the war, but since the war has acted with the Democrats, without taking any prominent part, abstain- ing from politics-on account of true devotion to his profession.

The Estes family is of French descent. Mr. Estes' father, Capt. Joel Estes, was a native of Bedford county, Virginia, and a farmer. He moved to Haywood county, Tennessee, at an early day, and was a candidate for Congress against the celebrated Davy Crockett. He was a man of great industry and probity, and was very successful in business. He died in 1833. Mr. Estes' mother was Miss Mary L. Wilson, a native of Baltimore, daughter of William Wilson, who died in Tipton county, Tennessee. Her mother was a Miss Lee, of Maryland. Mrs. Estes died in Memphis in 1871, aged seventy-two years. Mr. Estes' maternal uncle, Dr. Paca Wilson, is now a prominent physician at Brownsville, Tennessee, and his paternal uncles, resi- dents of Virginia and Kentucky, were all men of splen- did character, but without prominence in public life.

Mr. Estes is a man of positive character. If he has any enemies, as men of his decided stamp are almost certain to have, they are not among his professional brethren, or numbered with those who know him well. He himself is morally and religiously unbending.

JOHN HILL, CALLENDER, M.D.

NASHVILLE.

JOHN HILL CALLENDER was born near Nashville, Davidson county, Tennessee, November 28, 1832. His father was Thomas Callender, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1796, and removed to Nashville in 1817, where he resided until his death in 1851. . Ilis occupation was that of tobacconist and merchant. He was an alderman of the city several terms, and a mem- ber of the county court. His religious faith was Pres- byterian. He was the only son of James Thompson Callender, a native of Scotland, who came to America as a political exile in 1792, on account of the publica.

tion of radically democratic opinions in a work entitled The Political History of Great Britain. Shortly after, he attracted the attention of Thomas Jeffer- son, and became a political writer in the interest of the views of that statesman, and a severe critic of some of the measures of Washington's administration, and par- ticularly that of the elder Adams. He was a strenuous opponent of the Federal party of that day in its princi- ples of government and its measures, and was master of a trenchaut style in controversy, which rendered him quite obnoxious to its leaders. During the years of

PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

John Adams' administration he published in Philadel- phia The Political Register, a review of current politi- cal events. In 1798 he published a brochure entitled The Prospect Before U's-a caustic arraignment of President Adams and denunciation of the Alien and Sedition Act. He was then residing in Richmond, Virginia. Being an alien by birth, he was indicted for this publication under the provisions of the law he had denounced, for defamation of the President, and was the first of the few convictions had under it. He was defended by William Wirt and George Hay, and for his illegal and tyrannical rulings in the trial. Justice Chase of the United States Supreme Court, was afterwards impeached. James Thompson Callender afterwards founded the Richmond Recorder-the predecessor of the Richmond Enquirer, afterwards and for many years a newspaper of great power. He died in that city in 1806.

The mother of John II. Callender was Miss Mary Sangster, born in Fairfax county, Virginia, January 10, 1805. She was the daughter of John Sangster, a farmer, who moved to Davidson county in 1820. In 1835 he removed to. West Tennessee, where he died in 1855. Her religious faith was Presbyterian. She died Sep- tember 15, 1847.

Jolfn H. Callender attended the best classical schools at Nashville, until hisseventeenth year, when he entered the University of Nashville and remained there until its suspension in October, 1850-the termination of his collegiate junior year. In 1851 he entered the law office of Nicholson & Houston, Nashville, and soon after the law department of the University of Louis- ville. The illness of his father followed by his death, recalled him in a short time, and his legal studies were suspended and finally abandoned. In 1852 he visited St. Louis, and was employed in the house of Woods, Christy & Co., one of the largest at that time in the West. In 1853 he returned to Nashville and commenced the study of medicine, taking his degree in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1855. December, 1855, he became joint proprietor and editor of the Nashville Patriot, and so remained until 1858. In that year he was made professor of materia medica and therapeutics in the Shelby Medical College, Nash- ville, Tennessee, and filled that position until the sus- pension of exercises caused by the civil war in 1861. The same year he was appointed surgeon to the Eleventh Tennessee regiment, in command of Gen. Zollicolfer and then in service in eastern Kentucky, which position he resigned in February, 1862.

After the close of hostilities he, in December, 1865, became editorially connected with the Nashville Union und American, and retained that position until 1869. He was a delegate from the State at large to the Union National Convention in 1860 which nominated Bell and Everett, and also to the Democratic convention in 1868 which nominated Seymour and Blair.

During 1868 he was made professor of materia medica and therapeutics in the medical department of the University of Nashville. In 1870 he was appointed medical superintendent of the Tennessee Hospital for the Insane, which position he yet holds. The same year he was transferred to the chair of diseases of the brain and nervous system in the medical department of the University of Nashville, and in 1880 was transferred to the chair of physiology and psychology in the medical departments of the University of Nashville and Van- derbili University. In 1876 he was a delegate from the Tennessee Medical Society to the International Medi- cal Congress at Philadelphia. In 1881 he was made president of the Association of Medical Superintend- ents of American Institutions for the Insane, and is the youngest man and the only man from the South ever honored with that position. He was one of the witnesses summoned to give expert testimony in the celebrated trial of Charles J. Quitean on the question of his sanity, and after a laborious investigation pro- nouneed him not insane, though leaving home with a different impression.

It will thus be seen that Dr. Callender has led a varied, busy and successful life. He has never been a schemer or of a mere speculative turn, but original and independ- ent, maintaining his own views, Carefully trained in the classics, a cormorant, both as student and reader, of boundless memory and wonderful power of analysis-as a writer, he is graceful, fluent and exhaustive, and figured conspicuously and brilliantly as a political leader, having few equals in the South. Born and reared in Nashville, his sympathies readily blend with the social, scientific or political interests of the State, and being of an ardent nature, intensely individual and positive in his opinions and character, he is as prompt as incisive in the expression of his own convictions. It was this bent of his mind rather than a love for party or party con- fliet that prompted his acceptance of the editorship of the leading newspaper of the State. "As a mere boy he placed himself at the head of the Whig party of Tennessee, and by his terse and vigorous style as a political editor and his great sagacity in moulding events, he proved himself worthy to follow the footsteps of his distinguished grandfather.

As a teacher he is thorough, classic in style, and purely didactic in manner. As an essayist on many literary and scientific subjects he has few, if any, equals in Tennessee. In his specialty as an alienist he has received from his associates many marks of distinguished honor, and in the management of the institution over which he presides, he is ranked as something original, managing it in a different manner and with success equal to the best in the land.

" There," said Dr. Thomas A. Atchison, pointing to Dr. Callender, " is the typical man of our faculty. A man of high culture and fine literary tastes; he never trusts himself' before his class without due preparation.

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Ile composes rapidly and brilliantly, and speaks from notes from which he reads elegantly, as if speaking im- .promptu. He is one of the brainiest men in the State, and is a light in medical literature. He has a logical, analytical mind, an elegant presence and easy man- Ders."

Dr. Thomas L. Maddin furnishes the following high but just estimate of Dr. Callender's character : " He is of liberal education and broad scholarship. His tastes run after classical literature. There is no trash about him. He has cultivated his profession with care, industry and success. His tastes run more particularly toward medicine, and in cultivating it for its science and literature. As a professor, he is profound in his teaching, fluent in his discourse, clear in his demonstra- tions, and always commands a pre-eminent position in the esteem of his students and his colleagues in the faculty. At times he is eloquent in his diction and conception of his subject. As a man, he is of unblem- ished integrity, of broad views and general cultivation, standing high in public estimation for his ability and familiarity, not only with his profession, but with the politics of the times. He has a ready command of his resources, both as a speaker and a writer. In fact he is a man of high order of intellectuality, assisted by a most extraordinary and remarkably retentive memory ; but he does not excel simply in memory, but in his conception of what he undertakes to learn."

Dr. Daniel F. Wright, of Clarksville, writes the fol- lowing to the editor : " You request me to give you my impressions of the professional and personal character of Dr. John HI. Callender. You could not set me a more grateful task ; in executing it [ will confine myself, as in such cases should always be done, to what I have known of him by personal observation. I was first made acquainted with Dr. Callender when I became his colleague in the Shelby Medical College, Nashville, he holding the chair of materia medica and therapeutics, and I that of physiology and pathology. I have a lively recollection of his lectures, which had for their main subject the mode of the action of remedies in the human system. In treating this subject; he manifested a profound acquaintance for so young a man with the subjects of pathology and therapeutics, and applied that knowledge with an originality of thought still more remarkable. At the dissolution of the college by the events of the war, I lost sight of the Doctor for a long time; on his becoming superintendent of the Insane Asylum, however, I had frequent business inter- course with him in the way of recommending patients to the asylum. This led to my paying frequent visits there, and enabled me to observe the combined intelli-

genee and humanity with which he alleviated the sufferings of his unfortuate patients.

" Added to all this, Dr. Callender's personal charac- ter, based : upon principles of the strictest integrity, unites with a dignity and geniality of manner only combined in the person of a finished gentleman. 1 appreciate him as a faithful and reliable friend and as a delightful companion.

"Of Dr. Callender's standing in his profession, and of his eminence in the special department of it to which he is devoted, it is superfluous for me to speak. He is facile princeps in Tennessee as an authority in cases of insanity and diseases of the nervous system, and among alienists of the United States, whose really recognized experts may be counted on the fingers. he is a peer among the proudest."

In personal appearance Dr. Callendar is, tall, portly and stately, with the air of a student rather than of a master of his profession. Before lecturing, he is accus- tomed to pace the floor of the private office, meditating, as if preparing himself for the ordeal of appearing before an audience where every eye is a scalpel. But his lectures are plain, practical and direct, setting forth the facts in his subject rather than making efforts at oratory. Yet, although didactic, his lectures have a fine literary finish, and are delivered in scholarly style.

Dr. Callender is not a communicant of any church, although his religious training was Presbyterian. It is understood that he holds liberal views on religious topies, bat is not to be classed among the agnostics. In polities he was raised a Henry Clay Whig, and stood for the Union until compelled to go the other way. Since the war his political affiliations have been with the Democratic party.

Dr. Callender married at Nashville, Tennessee, Feb- ruary 24, 1858, Miss Della Jefferson Ford, daughter of Dr. John Pryor Ford, of that city. Dr. Ford was born in Cumberland county, Virginia, in 1810, and removed to Nashville from Huntsville, Alabama, in 1842, and was a leading practioner and teacher of medicine until his death in 1865 --- being professor of obstetrics and diseases of women and children from 1858 to 1862. His wife, Aun Smith Jefferson, was born also in Cumberland county, Virginia, and was collaterally related to Thomas Jefferson, of Monticello. Mrs. Callender is a great grand-niece of President Jefferson, and a niece of Gen. John R. Jefferson, of Seguin, Texas. Her religious connection is Protestant Episcopal.

By his marriage with Miss Ford, Dr. Callender has but one child-a daughter -- Annie Mary . Callender, born August 5, 1864, and a graduate of the Nashville College for Young Ladies,

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HON. JOHN NETHERLAND.

ROGERSVILLE.

H ON. JOHN NETHERLAND, who still lives at his home in Rogersville, was born September 20 1808, in Powhatan county, Virginia. His parents removed to Tennessee while he was yet an infant, settling at Kingsport, in Sullivan county, in 1811. They were thus among the primitive settlers who gave character to the civilization of the castern portion of our State. Of a family of eleven children, of whom he was the youngest, he is now the sole survivor. llis early facilities were fortunate in his day. Ile was sent when quite young as a pupil to the venerated Dr. Sam- uel Doak, who was pioneer with the famous Dr. Coffin in education in Tennessee. Completing his academic course at the early age of fourteen, he further prose- cuted his studies at home, in the nature of a review under the tutelage of Mr. Henry Hoss, a scholar of much celebrity.

In 1828 he entered upon the study of law in the office or under the instruction of Judge Samuel Powell, of Rogersville. He was licensed to practice in August, 1829. In 1830, catching the feeling for a western movement, he left Blountville and took up his home in Franklin, Williamson county, for the practice of his profession. His residence in Franklin was brief, extend- ing only about two years. The sickness and death of his father called him back to Kingsport.

At an early age he manifested an interest in the political affairs of the State and nation, and also a capacity for public service. In 1833, when he was but twenty-five years of age, he was elected to the State Senate from the district comprising the counties of Hawkins, Sullivan and Carter. On a month's notice, he canvassed the extended district in horseback style, and was elected by a majority of more than. three hundred votes. As a State Senator he took a very high stand for a young man. One of the leading measures before the Legislature, which some philanthropic people have always considered harsh, was the bill extending the law over and finally resulting in the removal of the few remaining Indiaus from our State. Against this measure he protested in an able and eloquent speech, which was extensively circulated in pamphlet form. The bill passed, but that speech of young Netherland will remain of record as a testimonial, not only of his regard for constitutional rights, but of his decent respect for the feelings of humanity.

The State convention of 1834 to revise the State consti- tution, inserted a provision in the constitution, as is well known, fixing the minimum age of State senators at thirty years. This gave a temporary pause to our subject's political prospects as to State offices, How- ever, in 1835 he was elected as representative from

Sullivan county in the Legislature, and it was while. serving in this capacity that a test was presented which developed John Netherland's independence of thought and character. The famous resolution was pending in the United States Senate, known as the "expunging resolution," intended to strike from the journals of the Senate the vote of censure previously passed upon Gen. .. Jackson, then president of the United States. A resolu- tion was introduced into the Tennessee Legislature in- structing the senators from Tennessee to vote for the ex- punging resolution. A primary convention of the people of Sullivan county passed a resolution instruct- ing him to vote for this resolution. Believing that the record of the United States Senate was designed to be a record of truth, and that mutilation was not to be tolerated, Mr. Netherland, in one of the most creditable acts of his life, surrendered his commission as repre- sentative of his county and returned to private life.

John Netherland is not a man who has had "an itching palm." Public office has occasionally come to him, but almost invariably without his seeking. Back in the times when old parties were breaking up-when Jackson men and White men and Bell men were taking their stand on new issues, John Netherland, true to his instincts, became a pronounced Whig. (Of course this biography is reciting facts, not proposing to propa- gate political ideas.)

In 1837 Mr. Netherland removed to Rogersville and opened his law office. Two years afterwards he married Miss Susan Mckinney, daughter of the late John A. Mckinney, and has ever since resided in Rogersville. Of the six children born to them only two are living, to-wit: Eliza, the wife of Judge Carrick W. Heiskell, of Memphis, and Margaret, the wife of Mr. Joseph C. Stamps, who, with his family, now occupies the family mansion at Rogersville.

Back in the old days of Whiggery and Democracy, Mr. Netherlaad was often called into service. In the days of 1839-40-41, when Polk was defeating Cannon and James C. Jones was coming upon the political scene, there was a demand for local politicians of character and influence. Polk had defeated Cannon and carried the Legislature. The next year the Whigs determined to secure the State. Hawkins county was a recognized battle-ground. Mr. Netherland was pressed into the service as a candidate for representative, and although Gov. Polk had carried the county by six hundred and twenty-five majority, Mr. Netherland was only defeated by the seant majority of one hundred votes.

It should have been stated that in 1836 Mr. Nether- land was elector for Judge Hugh Lawson White for

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the presidency. Twelve years later, in 1848, he was elector for the State at large for Taylor and Fillmore, his associate on the ticket being James C. Jones. The ticket was successful in the State, as in the Union, by a handsome majority. In this contest Mr. Nether- land's chief competitor was JJudge William T. Brown, of Memphis, though he had several discussions with Hon. Aaron V. Brown, who was on the Cass electoral ticket.

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 14

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