USA > Tennessee > Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee > Part 15
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In 1851 Mr. Netherland was elected representative from Hawkins county, and served his county most honorably.
In 1859 the Whig or "Opposition " party, with but little prospect of success in the State, demanded a candidate, and Mr. Netherland, being unanimously nominated by one of the most creditable conventions ever assembled in Nashville, accepted the nomination, and was of course defeated. But few of the intelligent men of his party had expected any other result, nor had Mr. Netherland himself.
Upon the breaking out of the civil war Mr. Nether- land's convictions led him to adhere to the cause of the Union. Indeed, while the question was yet an open one, his outspoken and eloquent opposition to the secession movement, in co-operation with Andrew Johnson, Thomas A. R. Nelson and other popular leaders of like opinions, did much to develop and con- firm that devoted feeling with which a majority of the people of East Tennessee clung to the Union through- out the war. After the conclusion of peace, however, although he had keenly felt, in person and property, the consequences of his own personal position through- out the struggle, he became at once the champion of toleration and forgiveness. He approved the main features of President Johnson's administration, and since that period, though still cherishing with knightly affection his "old Whig love," he has given his sympa- thies and support to the Democratic party.
In 1870 Mr. Netherland was chosen a member of the convention to revise the State constitution of Tennes- see. ITis services in that body were conspicuous for their conservative character.
Mr. Netherland never held nor seriously sought any position in the Federal government. A foreign mission was tendered to him by President Johnson, but he re- spectfully declined it.
The later years of Mr. Netherland's life, until mis- fortune in the shape of a serious bodily affliction prostrated him, were devoted to his profession of the law. In the brief space allowed to this biographer full justice can scarcely be done to such a representative Tennessean as Hon. John Netherland. It is not solely as a lawyer that he has made his distinguished reputa- tion, although in his profession he has long commanded the very front rank as an advocate at the bar. Few lawyers in East Tennessee who have ever encountered him will not concede that he is one of the most sue-
cessful advocates that ever made an appeal to an East Tennessee jury.
But, as we have intimated, it is not as a lawyer or politician that Mr. Netherland's character best appears. It is not too much to say that there is no man in all the State who has better and more charming command of a social circle than John Netherland. A political rival, who afterwards became his devoted friend, once deris- ively styled him "the tall and stately Netherland." The appellation has often been repeated in kindness by his friends. The designation was universally recog- nized as a most apt one. For while Mr. Netherland- being but little above six feet-is, of course, not of re- markable height, yet, when in vigorous health, he had a certain stateliness of bearing that rendered the de- scription of " tall " peculiarly appropriate. Indeed, in his prime, he was a man of remarkable personal figure, one calculated to attract attention on any promenade or in any throng. In addition, he had, in a marked degree, what may be called strength of physiognomy. His face was most striking and impressive, severe as wrath itself when indignation or other strong feeling moved him, and yet, as his mood changed, softening into a counte- nance that attracted by its pleasantness. These char- acteristies were specially noticeable in his efforts. at the bar, and contributed much to his wonderful power over a jury. He could effect as much by a look and a nod, as any man the writer ever saw. It was often remarked by those, who had seen both men, that in many respects he was suggestive of Gen. Jackson. He was fond of polite society in which he was ever a favorite. His manners were always courtly. Gentility is a part of his nature.
None hold, or ever held, Mr. Netherland in higher esteem than his brethren of the bar. With him pro- fessional courtesy was ever a cardinal virtue, and a breach of professional honor was abhorrent to his nature. Besides, his splendid social qualities, enliven- ing always the otherwise tedious hours of a slow drag- ging court-term, or the long dreary ride around the circuit, as in the ofden time, made him a favorite com- panion always among his associate lawyers, to whom his inimitably-told and continually-flowing stories were as food and drink along the way. In the traditions of the East Tennessee bar the "anecdotes" of John Netherland will live through generations.
The sum of his personal afflictions has been heavy. The loss of children -one a lovely daughter, under most shocking accidental circumstances; the other, an only son, bearing his name, a noble, generous and gifted young lawyer, full of promise that he would worthily wear his father's name-these, added to a most severe personal injury, which has made him a per- manent cripple, would seem to have been enough to break the spirit of a man of seventy seven. Yet, while this biography is being prepared, there is not a brighter spirit than John Netherland's, nor is there a parlor in
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Tennessee in which the visitor is greeted with a more genial entertainment. His fund of anecdote and wit, from which his conversation was always most piquantly and enjoyably enriched, remains still unexhausted. His memory of the events of his own life and of his very extensive reading, remains undimmed, and his old friends and neighbors find no greater social pleasure than in "dropping in " and listening to the real music of
his charming discourse. Throughout his life he has been a most " neighborly " man, having sacrificed most of his hard earned fortune in the interest of friends. Of course his lengthened span of life is now measured and has not much further extent. But his record is secure. He will leave to his descendants a rich legacy in the memory that he lived and died an honest man.
GEN. JOHN M. D. MITCHELL.
LIVINGSTON.
TI HE subject of this sketch, a nephew of Hon. W. W. Goodpasture, was born in Jackson (now Clay) county, Tennessee, April 12, 1851, the son of Dennis Mitchell. His mother, Margaret Goodpasture, was the daughter of John Goodpasture and wife, Margery, nee Bryan.
Mr. Mitchell was educated in the schools and acade- my of Overton county, and was himself superintendent of public instruction in that county some two years. Ilis administration of this trust passed with most favorable criticism. After reading law one year with his uncle, Hon. W. W. Goodpasture, he entered the law department of Cumberland University, Lebanon, from which he graduated in 1876, his diploma bearing the honored names of Hons. Robert L. Caruthers, Nathan Green, jr., and other distinguished members of that faculty. . In 1876, Gen. William Cullom having resigned the office of attorney-general of the sixteenth judicial cireuit, for the purpose of running for Congress in the Knoxville district, Gov. James D. Porter com- missioned Mr. Mitchell to fill the vacancy. At the November, 1876, term of the circuit court of Anderson county, Tennessee, Judge D. K. Young presiding, Mr. Mitchell appeared for the first time, both as a lawyer and attorney-general, without any practice as'a lawyer or experience in courts, He was somewhat awkward, being unfamiliar with court proceedings, and with nothing to recommend him but honesty of purpose, the ability to succeed, and an unconquerable will to know and do his duty. By constant application, assisted most cordially by his admiring friend, Judge Young, the rough ashlar soon became the polished marble. In a remarkably short period in his official career, he developed into a power that was felt in all the counties of the circuit. In the prosecution of his official duties he was brought into contact with such experienced and distinguished lawyers as Gen. William Cullom, of Clinton, Col. W. A. Henderson, the silver tongued orator, Col. Henry R. Gibson and Maj. L. A. Gratz, of Knoxville, and ex-Congressman and ex -Judge John P.
Murray, of Gainesborough, and proved himself on all occasions a man among men.
At the general election of 1878 he was a candidate for election before the people of the circuit, and made the race against two gentlemen of acknowledged ability, and by reason of the satisfactory manner in which he discharged his duties under Gov. Porter's appointment, he was triumphantly elected. Up to this time he had developed into an efficient prosecutor, and was a terror to wrong-doers. He was admired most for stating his propositions of law clearly and in the fewest possible words, limiting his speeches to about ten minutes, riveting the facts upon the minds of his jurymen, and in an unusu- ally large number of cases securing convictions.
But the main characteristies of Gen. Mitchell as a prosecutor were, that he knew his cases, knew the facts, and would never let his grand juries make mistakes. He was as careful that the innocent should not be falsely aceused as that the guilty should be convicted. He stood like a wall of fire around the innocent, but against the guilty he proceeded as with a two edged sword. In a short notice of his death, written by Judge Young, occur these words: "The power of the man consisted not in education and culture, but in the force of native intellect, and the confidence the people had in his integrity."
As a friend he was genial and companionable. They loved him most who knew him best. His morals were good. It is said he never swore an oath. Shortly before his death he professed religion, was baptized and received into the Cumberland Presbyterian church. Hle never married. His father having died when the son was only four months old, he was raised by his widowed mother, and was a self-made man.
His mother, Mrs. Margaret Mitchell; is still living at Livingston, Tennessee, with her other son, Isaiah W. Mitchell, a prosperous farmer. The subject of this sketch died June 18, 1881, aged thirty-three years two months and six days, and was buried at Good Hope church, near Livingston,
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At the first court held in the judicial circuit of which he was attorney-general, at Wartburg, Morgan county, Tennessee, after his death, a memorial meeting of the bar and people was convened in the court-house, the first Monday in July, 1884, which adopted resolu- tions highly complimentary and heart-felt, which demonstrate his standing as a representative lawyer
and representative Tennessean. He died in the prime of life, and it is still said in judicial and legal circles, his circuit will scarcely ever see his equal as a prose- cutor. Judge Young, under whom he practiced during his entire official term, said of him: " He was the most efficient prosecutor I have known during my entire life as a lawyer or as a judge."
ROBERT FRANK EVANS, M. D.
SHELBYVILLE.
D R. ROBERT FRANK EVANS was born August 24, 1821; in Caroline county, Virginia, and re- moved to Bedford county, Tennessee, in 1832, with his father, David S. Evans. His mother was Judith Bowlware, and was a worthy representative of that grand old family. . There was a large family, but Robert was the only son. His father engaged in farm- ing until 1837, when he took charge of the leading hotel at Shelbyville, the house, which still stands, " The Evans House," having been built by him. The son was partly educated in Virginia and partly at the Dixon Academy, Shelbyville, and in 1813 commenced the study of medicine with Dr. G. W. Fogleman, who, at that time, was doing a large and lucrative practice. In the autumn of 1845 he went to Louisville, Kentucky, going through the country in a buggy, and attended the medical department of the University of Louisville, and listened to the lectures of such eminent medical educators as Profs. Gross, Drake, Cobb, Miller, Cald- well and others. Returning home, he pursued his studies until the following autumn, when he went to Philadelphia, and entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, where he had the ben- efit of the teachings of Profs. Horner, Gibson, Wood, Hare, Chapman, Jackson and Meigs, who, at that day, were regarded as great lights in the profession. Receiving his degree and diploma in April, 1847, Dr. Evans returned to Shelbyville, and practiced his profession there until the spring of 1851, when a party of friends -- four other young men beside himself-went to Cali- fornia, being attracted by the wonderful stories of that wonderful country, Dr. Evans also feeling the ne- cessity of some change to repair the ill health he had fallen into from too much confinement and application.
The party left home in April, 1851, and went to New Orleans on the steamboat " America," and from Now Orleans to Chagres on a sailing vessel. Hiring a native and a mule to transfer baggage, they walked across the isthmus of Darien to Panama, where they had to wait two weeks for an opportunity to get to the land of gold. Finally they secured passage on board a French ship, 0
which getting out of provisions and water, and meeting with severe storms, had to put into the Sandwich Islands, and they spent ten days at Honolulu. They landed at San Francisco, August 12, 1851. Striking out for the mines, they were soon in the rough and rugged mining region of that time. The kind of life they led-working with pick and shovel and rocker, sleeping on the ground in the open air, and having only a very plain diet-soon restored Dr. Evans' health and strength, and when the keen relish of the new life bad worn off, he returned to his home and resumed the practice of medicine in the summer of 1852. He has continued steadily at practice ever since, leading the life incident to the calling-going at all times, in all kinds of weather, trying to help the afflicted and dis- tressed, and do some good for his fellow-man.
Dr. Evans has been a Mason for many years, and pre- sided as Master of Shelbyville Benevolent Lodge, No. 122, for six or seven years, and as High Priest of Tame- hill Chapter, No. 40, Royal Arch Masons about the same length of time; was created a Knight Templar in Nashville Commandery, No. 1, in 1859, and retains his membership in all the branches of Masonry, at the present time, and has ever tried to live up to the elevated standard taught by this noble order.
Dr. Evans was an early advocate of county medical societies, and upon the organization of the Bedford county society, served as secretary and president for several terms. He is also a member of the Shelbyville Board of Health, and has been since its organization in 1879. He became a member of the State medical society of Tennessee many years since, has been a regu- lar attendant upon its annual meetings, and is a con- tributor to its literature, as well as to the medical press. At the State society meeting in Memphis, in 1878, he was elected president, and served as such for the year (re-election not being allowed under the rules). As president, he had the good and interest of the society at heart, and desired that it might go on doing good, benefitting the profession and the people of the State. His medical reputation is with the people of his own and adjoining counties, where he is content to leave it
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until the Great Physician summons him to rest from his labors.
In a financial sense Dr. Evans is in excellent cir- cumstances, owning a good property, and being a director of the Shelbyville National Bank.
Dr. Evans married Miss Julia E. Greer, February 14, 1856, and there were two children born to them, a daughter and a son. The mother died in October, 1859, and in the following summer both children went to join her in the blessed country where there is no sickness or death.
He married a second time, December 24, 1867, Mrs. Mary Coldwell Fite, maiden name Mary Summers Coldwell, widow of Jacob C. Fite, who had two chil- dren, both living: (1). Dr. Campbell Coldwell Fite, who studied medicine with Dr. Evans, and practiced
in partnership with him nearly six years, until he moved to Nashville, in 1883, to practice there, having been elected secretary and executive officer of the State Board of Health. (2). Jennie Nixon Fite, who married Surgeon A. M. Moore, of the United States navy. There are two children by the present marriage, Stella and Mary Frank Evans.
Dr. Evans has always been noted for his quiet and peaceful methods of life, has the respect of his entire acquaintance, and is held up as an example of what a man should be in all the relations of life. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, and has , been for years senior warden of the church at Shelby- ville. Christianity with him is not a theory, but a fact. Only those who know him intimately know his greatest virtues.
P. H. McBRIDE, M.D.
NOAH.
D R. P. II. McBRIDE, Noah, Tennessee, was born December 27, 1825, at Beech Grove, Coffee county, Tennessee. His boyhood days were spent on the farm and in attending the county schools of that place. He early manifested a desire to study medicine, but not having the means to do so, apprenticed himself to a blacksmith, and at the end of two years, having mastered his trade, began business for himself. In 1846 he enlisted in Capt. L. D. Newman's company for the Mexican war, and was elected second sergeant. He served twelve months, the term of his enlistment, and, on account of sickness, was honorably discharged at New Orleans, Louisiana, in May, 1847. After re- turning home he finished his education in the winter of 1847-48, at Manchester Academy, Manchester, Tennes- see. From 1848 to 1851 he was a farmer and black- smith, dividing his time between the two occupations. From 1851 to 1861 he added to his tasks the study of medicine, making it a rule to read until twelve o'clock at night, and catching a preceptor whenever he could. When the war between the States broke out he volun- teered in Col. John H. Savage's Sixteenth Tennessee regiment, and served for twelve months as color-bearer of that gallant command. In 1862 he was commissioned by Hon. Judah P. Benjamin, Secretary of War for the Confederate States, to enlist a company of mounted men, to be selected from the Sixteenth Tennessee. Mounting and equipping his men, he attached his com- mand to Col. Starnes' regiment at Chattanooga, in 1862. His command was then made the advance guard of Gen. E. Kirby Smith's army in the Kentucky campaign, and participated with credit in the sanguinary battle of Richmond, Kentucky. After returning from this
campaign, he was attached to Gen. Forrest's command until October, 1861, during which period he was in all the numerous battles, skirmishes and raids of Forrest's cavalry. His company was considered one of the very best in the Confederacy, and was among the last to surrender. Owing to great exposure and the awful fatigue of the campaigns through which he passed, Dr. McBride's health again broke down, and in October, 1864, he was ordered to the hospital indefinitely, being unfit for duty. In the November following, being able to travel, he returned home, where he remained the rest of the war.
After the war, his property all gone, he again took to his trade, at which he continued until 1868, when he moved to Noah Fork on Duck river, where he now lives, and where he began the practice of medicine. Quite a number of old and successful practitioners live in his neighborhood, but by closely applying himself, Dr. MeBride has gained a good practice, and has, especially, the treatment of nearly all the chronic cases around him. More than this, he has built up a good name, as an honorable, straightforward man, correct in all his dealings, and is a citizen of first-class standing and great popularity.
As a politician Dr. Me Bride is known as a Democrat, staunch and true. In 1870 he was a candidate for the State Senate, having as his competitor Hon. George McKnight and Col. J. H. Hughes. Dr. McBride received a large majority in his county and every vote in his civil district. In 1882 he made a short canvass for representative, but as there were so many candidates in the field, he withdrew before the election, so as not to defeat the party ticket. Again, in 1884, he was a can-
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didate for the Senate from his district, and was elected by a handsome majority, the full Democratie vote. He served with ability and influence in the Tennessee Legislature of 1885, and made many additional friends by his firm and unflinching stand on all vital questions.
His faith has always been in the Methodist church, of which organization he has been a member for forty years. Ilis family is also of the same faith, except one son. He has always been a careful, prudent, econom- ical man, though of a liberal and hospitable nature. He forms his plans with deliberation and caution, and then concentrates his whole mind to accomplish them.
Dr. McBride married, August 17, 1848, Miss Eliza- beth S. Emerson, daughter of Gen, Hiram S. Emerson. She is a woman of many good traits, religious in her nature, and a model wife and mother. Five children have been born to them, four sons and one daughter : (1). William HI. McBride, born at Manchester, Ten- Nessee; now merchandising at Noah, Tennessee; mar- ried Miss Ella Farrar, who died in January, 1884,
leaving two children, Eugene and Arthur. (2). Thomas M. MeBride, born May 9, 1850; now farming at Noah, (3). P. Il. McBride, born January 24, 1855; now a merchant at Morrison Station, Warren county, Ten- nessee ; married, March 4, 1885, Miss Mary Lee Keel, daughter of J. W. Keel. (4). B. H. McBride, born in 1858; now a farmer at Noah. (5). Mary C. McBride, born July 2, 1862.
The McBride family are of Scotch-Irish descent. Dr. Mc Bride's great-grandfather was Dr. Daniel Mc Bride, of Dublin, Ireland. His son, John McBride, came from Ireland, lived a while in Virginia, and then emi- grated to Tennessee, and was one of the first settlers of Bedford county. His son, William MeBride, father of Dr. P. II. MeBride, was born December 28, 1791, at Lynchburg, Virginia. William McBride was a farmer of good property, and for many years was a magistrate and chairman of the county court of Bedford county. From 1851 to 1855 he was revenue collector of Coffee county. He was married, in Bedford county, to Miss Millie Conwell, daughter of John Conwell, who served the whole of the Revolutionary war as a private.
HION. ROBERT MCFARLAND.
MORRISTOWN.
H ON. ROBERT MCFARLAND, at present one of the Supreme Judges of Tennessee, was born in Jefferson county, Tennessee, April 15, 1832. He is the son of Col. Robert MeFarland, a native of the same county, who in carly life was a lieutenant in the regular United States army, serving during the war of 1812 at Lundy's Lane, Fort Erie, and other notable engage- ments. Soon after the war he resigned, and returned to his native county, married, and settled down as a pri- vate citizen, following the occupation of a tanner. He was colonel of militia, and for many years a justice of the peace. Ile died in Kentucky in August, 18144, while on his return from Missouri, at the age of fifty- five years. Hle was a man of the highest personal in- tegrity, and commanded universal respect wherever he was known. One of his great purposes in life was to give his children all the educational advantages with- in his reach. He was in religion a Presbyterian and in politics a Whig. His father was also known as Col. Robert McFarland, and was a native of Virginia, but removed to Tennessee at an early day; was the first sheriff of Jefferson county; was a noted Indian fighter in the early settlement of the county; a man of vigo- rous character, and prominent in his county during his life. Ilis death occurred about 1838. The MeFarland family originally came from the highlands of Scotland. Judge MeFarland's mother was born in Jefferson
county, Tennessee, the daughter of James Scott, a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian, who, with his wife, emigrated from Ireland and settled in Jefferson county at an early day, where he spent the remainder of his life, an ardent Presbyterian elder. His daughter, the mother of Judge McFarland, was a woman of most excellent character, of quick mind and remarkable energy, and was loved and respected by every one. She was also a Presbyte- rian. Her death occurred in February, 1866, at the age of sixty -six.
The brothers and sisters of Judge MeFarland, in the order of their ages, are as follows: (1). Isaac B. McFar- land, a half-brother, of Brenham, Texas, who for many years has been judge of the district court in that State. (2). William MeFarland, who, for a short time, was judge of the second Tennessee circuit by appointment of Gov. D. W. C. Senter; represented the first Tennes- see district in Congress from 1874 to 1876, and is still a prominent and leading citizen, and resides at Morris- town. (3). Mrs. H. M. Barton, the wife of Judge R. M. Barton, now of Chattanooga. (4), Mrs. Jones, who died many years ago, the wife of Thomas M. Jones. (5). Mrs. M. O. Smith, the wife of Rev. W. H. Smith. (6). Mrs. Emma Kidwell, the wife of R. J. Kidwell. (7). Robert MeFarland, subject of this sketch. (8). Mary A. MeFarland, the youngest, who died in 1876, the wife of Win. Il. Turley.
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