Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 21

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 21

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With the establishment of peace, the young man's desires for the completion of his education revived, but alas, were frustrated for want of means. He did enter

at Randolph Macon College, but after a few months' study there, found it necessary to seek the means of subsistence. He began at the foot of the ladder, and was employed as porter in the grocery house of HI. G. Thomas. Seeing no prospect of promotion from this humiliating position, he returned, after a few months, to Mecklenburg county, and secured the office of deputy sheriff in the same court in which his father and other progenitors had served as county court clerk. After a few months' service in this office, he entered the law office of Thomas F. Goode, and remained there as clerk and student about eighteen months. He here acquired that familiarity with the procedure of the law courts and those habits of strict attention to business which. qualified him for success in future life. Seeking a field for the exertion of these faculties, he found himself, in 1869, in Memphis, with but little money and no friends to promote his advancement. Deficient in means 'to sustain him in that rather expensive city, he put out and drifted to Mason Station, in Tipton county, Ten- nessee. Here he found employment for two years in the grocery house of R. F. Maclin & Co., and then became a partner in a drug and grocery establishment under the style of Reid & Baptist. This was his busi- ness till 1875.

He now took the first step in official life, for which his previous training had so well qualified him, being elected mayor and justice of the peace. The next year he became chairman and financial agent of the county court, in which office he inaugurated important financial reforms. He was re-elected in 1877. In 1878 he was elected clerk of the county court, and removed to Covington, the county seat of Tipton. In 1882 he at length attained the object he had been aiming at from his boyhood by being admitted to the bar, on examina- tion before Judge Thomas J. Flippin and Chancellor Henry J. Livingston. He already ranks among the foremost members of the Covington bar.

PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

He is a Democrat in politics, and a member of the Presbyterian church, in which he has been for several . years a ruling elder. He is a Mason, Knight of Honor, a Master Workman, and a member of the Knights and Ladies of Honor.

He married on the 18th of January, 1871, Miss Belle H. Boyd, whose father, Col. Frank W. Boyd, was for years a member of the Virginia State Legislature. They lived in Mecklenburg county, Virginia, the native county of Mr. Baptist himself. ` Her mother was Miss Isabella Townes, daughter of Col. Townes, a wealthy citizen of Mecklenburg county, of which he was for many years sheriff. He was also a member of the Vir- ginia Legislature, both before and after the war, Mrs. Baptist is a lady of attractive and dignified presence, modest, gentle, amiable and hospitable, much beloved

by her husband's friends and her own. She is a sincere and devout member of the Presbyterian church. They have four children, namely : Frank Boyd and Richard Bannister, Belle T. and Mary L.

Thus, with a modest home, cheered by the presence of a loving wife and affectionate children, and well furnished with books and other appliances of intellect- ual recreation, he has always at hand a tranquil and happy retreat from the wearing toils of his profession.

His ancestors, on the paternal side, were French Huguenots, and in the early records of the Mecklenburg county court, the name is spelt with the French termin- ation " Baptiste." His mother's ancestors were of Scotch- Trish descent. On both sides members of the courts and Legislature of Virginia are found at frequent in- tervals.

HON. MICHAEL BURNS.

NASHVILLE.

T' IILS gentleman came to Tennessee in 1836, a for- eigner by birth, belonging to the working class of society, and has here made a fine fortune and a still finer reputation as a man of integrity and impulsive kindness and generosity. He began as a saddler, and has been successively a leather merchant, president of two railroads, president of a bank, and State senator.

Michael Burns was born in county Sligo, Ireland, March, 1813. His father, Patrick Burns, and his mother, Catharine Clark, were both natives of Ireland. His father was in good circumstances, and held some of the most important offices in the county Sligo, and in point of integrity none stood higher. His mother's relatives held positions of great responsibility. He was only nine years old when his father died and fifteen at the death of his mother. He went to school in the old country seven years, and became a fair Eng- lish scholar. At an early age he was apprenticed to the saddlor's trade in Sligo; emigrated to Quebec, Canada, in July, 1831 (then eighteen years of age), and shortly after went to Montreal. From there he went to New York city, and thence to Nashville, in 1836. Remain- ing in Nashville one year, he went to the old town of Jefferson, Rutherford county, spending two years at his business. In 1839 he returned to Nashville, and per- manently located, engaging in the saddlery, saddlery hardware and leather business until the civil war broke out.

In his physical make and his mental characteristics and manners, Mr. Burns is a typical " fine old Irish gen tleman," of broad, strong build, outspoken and down- right in his utterances, companionable, humorous, and sunny in his disposition. He has a broad, comprehen-

sive mind, is a fine talker and a good writer, and gen- erally succeeds in impressing his views upon his hear- ers without wrangling; talks plain, to the point, and with sincerity. A man. of lofty integrity, wanting always and only to do right, he is always independent. It used to be a common saying about Nashville that "Gov. Andy Johnson had as much confidence in Mike Burns as in any other man."

November 29, 1853, Mr. Burns was elected director of the Nashville and Northwestern railroad, and vice- president October 27, 1861. In 1864 he was elected president, serving until August 10, 1868. He was also president of the Nashville and Chattanooga railroad- two different roads, but having offices filled by men who were connected with both. He was re-elected three times to these positions.

From 1853 to 1859 he was a director of the Bank of Tennessee, and from 1859 to 1865 a director of the Union Bank of Tennessee. In 1870 he was elected president of the First National Bank of Nashville. Since 1878 he has been a director in the Third National and American National Banks of Nashville, and for some twenty years has also been a director of the Nash- ville Commercial Insurance Company.

In addition to the offices he has held in connection with Tennessee railroads and banks, Mr. Burns was also elected State senator from Davidson county in 1882. During his term in the senate he was chairman of the committee on banking and a member of the ways and means committee. . In the senate he manifested that independence and open expression of his senti- ments that has characterized him as a private citizen through life. He has also been most favorably men-

4 .

PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

tioned as a proper man to fill the high office of governor of Tennessee.

Mr. Burns had a large influence in shaping the course of the Federal administration in matters pertaining to Tennessee. He was on intimate and friendly relations with Andrew Johnson when he was governor and after- wards when he became president, and was particularly admired by President Lincoln, who once gave him an interview of four hours when crowds were waiting to see him.

There was a battery of artillery in the Confederate army called after him-the Burns'. Artillery-but he was never an active rebel, though he harmonized with the State in the rebellion, his family and property all being here, and though it was not his wish that the State should go into rebellion, yet when it seceded he gave his aid in that direction. As soon as the Federal army arrived he showed them a great deal of friend- ship, both officers and men, and singular to say he had the confidence of the authorities on both sides. It was the respect that broad good sense and manliness com- mand from all meu.

The following letter, besides showing the intimate relations existing between Mr. Burns and Gov. John- son, also has an historic value:

STATE OF TENNESSEE, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, NASHVILLE, TENN., January 21, 1864.

DEAR SIR :- I have the pleasure of commending to your consid- eration my old friend, Michael Burns, of the city of Nashville. Mr. Burns is a gentleman of high standing in the city, and rare business qualifications. He is the president of the Nashville and Chattanooga and the Northwestern railroads, and by his energy, skill, and capital has contributed largely to the successful progress of the latter road, which, as you are advised, is now in running order to the Tennessee river. The government owes him much for his hearty co- operation with the Secretary of War and others in con- strueting this great military and commercial enterprise, by which wo soon can be relieved from the exarting extortions of the Louis- ville and Nashville road, and all the troops and munitions of war can be transported over a much shorter, cheaper, and more secure and, at all seasons, certain line, to this point. Mr. Burns visits Washington on important business, which he will lay before you, and any assistance or kindness you may be pleased to give him will be heartily appreciated and conferred upon an esteemed friend and worthy gentleman. I have the honor to be, with great regard, your obedient servant. ANDREW JOHNSON. ABRAHAM LINCOLN,

President of the United States.

[ENDORSED, | Hon. Secretary of War, please see and hear the bearer, Mr. Burns.

A. LINCOLN. August 3, 1864.

Andrew Johnson and Mr. Burns were intimate per- sonal friends for thirty years, and time seemed to in- crease their mutual appreciation.

It is needless to say that Mr. Burns is, by virtue of his Trish blood, and by associations this side of the water, a life-long Democrat. During the war, though a Union man, the State having seceded, he, being a for- eigner, acquiesced and went with it, believing he had no right to go against the majority. Naturally enough he co-operated with the Confederacy. The war and results perplexed him greatly.

During the war Mr. Burns busied himself in relie ing the poor, getting prisoners released, execution stayed, and in procuring pardons for prisoners.

The following, in his own words, is illustrative of il man : " Whilst in Washington, in 1861, I called upo President Lincoln; when I was promptly admitted t his office, and he appeared glad to see me. I had calle on him previously on railroad business. Whilst w were in conversation, a young man entered the office and the President said to him, 'I-sent for you to asl what knowledge you have of the prisoners who are o b executed to-morrow, having been sentenced by a court martial for desertion.' The young man answered thar he knew the sergeant, who was a native of Rhod. Island; that the prisoner had sent for and given him : last message for his mother and sister, with whom his was acquainted; had shed tears and deplored his fate The President said that, under a decision of a court- martial, they were to be executed next day, telling me of the circumstances of their desertion. I asked him to permit me to say a few words in extenuation of their crime. He asked for my reasons why the sentence should not be enforced, when I said that it appeared that one of them was a sergeant in the regular army, the others were privates ; their regiments were stationed in Washington, and that they got one thousand dollar, each to go as substitutes for men who were drafted to serve in the army; that this appeared a very large sum to these men, and that the sergeant sent the money to his mother and sister, who were needy, and went to the front to fight the rebels, where he could serve his country best; gave up his rank in the army and his ease in Washington; and for his filial act the great government of the United States desires to kill him. Had they gone over to the enemy I would not say a word in their defense. Mr. Lincoln said, with anima- tion, that he would pardon them, they should not die, and expressed pleasure at my presence-in the natural kindness of his heart seeming glad of a reason for exercising clemency. Other matters came up where life and death were in the balance, and in every instance my suggestions were adopted. A better man I never knew. After a four hours' visit I left, but was urgently pressed to call whenever in Washington, but alas, I never saw him again."

Mr. Burns never took the oath of allegiance to either government, but was loyal to the "powers that be," whether Federal or Confederate .. His policy during the war seems to have been to take care of his rail- roads, in which he was very successful. During his presidency of the Nashville and Chattanooga and North- western railroads he was sorely pressed in 1866 by the officers of the government to pay in part for the mate- rial he purchased for the road from the quartermaster's department, but by an appeal to President Johnson the payment was postponed until a settlement could be made, or time given the road to earn the money. In

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THOMAS L. MADDIN, M. D.

PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

May, 1865, after Johnson became president, he got an order from him to bring out cotton, and secured about one thousand two hundred and fifty-four bales belonging to the road ; sold some in Boston, depositing the money in a New York bank to pay interest on the road's in debtedness. The balance he sold in Liverpool, deposit- ing the money in the Bank of the Republic, New York, to pay coupons due there, all monies going to build the unfinished road and to pay its indebtedness, His judg ment and management gave him a place on the roll of honor which few men can boast.

An investigation by a committee of the State senate in 1870-71 resulted in a long report to the senate, show- ing, what his whole previous life in all relations, public and private, had already shown, that Mr. Burns is an honest, square man. The senate committee in this re- port says (see House Journal Appendix, 1870-71, page 821, et seq.) : "At the time said road was turned over to Mr. Burns, in September, 1865, of the ninety-two miles west of the Tennessee river only about fifty had ever been constructed, and that had not been operated for years. The iron had been torn up by the United States authorities and removed for about thirty miles of the route. The embankment had washed, cuts caved in, and cross-ties rotted, as well as all bridges and trestles of every kind, and that part which was left had grown up in wild growth, so that it was as costly and difficult to rebuild that portion of the road which had been built as that which had never been touched. The committee here beg leave to call attention to the economical manner in which Mr. Burns, as president of said company, husbanded the small means at his disposal for the construction of said ninety eight miles of road, to which must be added the immense bridge over the Tennessee river, and the committee deem it but just to Mr. Burns also to commend the dispatch with which said herculean task was accomplished. Ninety-three miles of railroad built in eighteen months, with the bridge over the Tennessee river, is a feat, the like of which is not often performed in building roads, and is not only in happy contrast with the tardy pro- gress made by his predecessors and others who have undertaken the construction of railroads; it also com

pares favorably with the rapidity with which the great Pacific was built."

Mr. Burns was married in Nashville, March 14, 1812, to Miss Margaret Gilliam, who was born in Ireland, daughter of William Gilliam, a queensware merchant, who was lost in the Arctic ocean in 1856. Her mother was a Donnelly, also a native of Ireland. To his wife Mr. Burns attributes in a large degree his financial success, as he never did any good until he got married. After his -marriage he managed to save one hundred and fourteen dollars, with which he began business and laid the foundation of his handsome fortune. His partner in all of his successes, the sharer of his strug- gles and the true helpmate of his life, departed this life after a brief illness, in Nashville September 1, 1885. She was a member of the Methodist church at the time of her marriage, while Mr. Burns is a Roman Catholic, but she joined the Catholic church in 1844.

When the writer asked Mr. Burns how much he is now worth he replied, "Well, I am not in debt." When questioned as to what methods he had employed in succeeding, he answered: "I never made a promise unless I intended to fulfill it, and did fulfill it. I never failed in business, and was never sued for a debt of my own. Always ambitious to stand in the front rank among men, my credit in Nashville was above that of many men worth more than myself. When other men were frolicking around having a good time I was attend- ing to business. I kept my own books for a number of years, and did my own correspondence. My motto in business has always been, Honesty. I never sold an article to a man for good unless it was good, or if the purchaser found it was not so I made it good. I did the heaviest business in my line that had ever been done in Nashville. I never kept a poor man out of his money. I had fairly good habits in youth; never abused my system; read every thing that came in my way. Among my companions I was popular, and was something of a guide to them. I always felt that to meet great men as my equals and to control them was my right. I have been well treated by great and good men, and through life never paid less than one hundred cents on the dollar."

THOMAS L. MADDIN, M.D.

T "THIS gentleman, whose name will descend in the medical history of Tennessee, stands eminent among the prominent urembers of the medical profession. Dr. Maddin, as co-editor of the Monthly Record of Medicine and Surgery at Nashville, from 1857 to 1861 ; as professor and lecturer in Shelby Medical college.

Nashville, Tennessee ; as one of the most successful sur- geons in the South, having performed exceptionally difli- cult and delicate surgical operations ; by the num- ber of years, between 1857 and 1885, that he has occupied various professorships in the Nashville medical schools, and as a successful private practitioner,

PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

ranks high in the noblest of all professions. As a teacher, his style is full, accurate and clear; as a pro- fessor, he is a sound and reliable exponent of advanced medical science, while his learning and skill as a diag- nostician are recognized by his professional brethren wherever his name is known.

Though of gentle and sympathetic nature, he is self- possessed, unembarrassed, and self-reliant in medical or surgical emergencies, and proceeds alike with equa- nimity, celerity and dexterity. No physician's life better illustrates the saying of Dr. Menees, that " the practice of medicine is a pleasure, a service and a sacrifice," than that of Dr. Maddin, who, when a call is made, has no respect to weather, his own peril, or the pecuniary or social position of the patient.

But what writer, not a physician, can know or assign to his proper medical rank the physician and surgeon ? From the very nature of the profession his lectures can be attended only by medical students, and can not be reported. So of a physician's practice ; it is all private and of a nature too delicate to be discussed. His skill, the result of a life of study, can only be judged by the results of his practice; in testimony of which but few professional men can claim a more hearty endorsement of the community in which he lives, of the profession of which he is a member, and a larger and more grateful clientage than Dr. Maddin. As a citizen he is liberal and progressive in matters of public interest.

Thomas L. Maddin was born in Columbia, Tennes- see, September 4, 1826. In 1815 he graduated A. B. from Lagrange college, Alabama, and in March, 1849, took his medical degree from the medical department of the University of Louisville, under Profs. Gross, Drake, Caldwell (a connecting link between ancient and modern medicine), Cobb, Yandell and Miller. After receiving his diploma he practiced four years in Lime- stone county, Alabama, in partnership with his former preceptor, Dr. Jonathan McDonald, a man of very high professional claims, and of preeminent ability in the practical duties, both of physician and surgeon. In April, 1853, Dr. Maddin settled in Nashville. From 1856 to 1858 he was professor of anatomy, and from 1858 to 1861, professor of surgery in Shelby Medical College, Nashville, From 1569 to 1873 he was professor of the institutes of medicine in the University of Nash- ville, and from 1873, professor of the institutes and practice of medicine and clinical medicine in the same institution, and also from that date (1873), professor of the same branch in the medical department of Van- derbilt University, both of which positions he still fills (1885). From 1873 he has also been president of the faculty of the medical department of the University of Nashville and Vanderbilt University.

Dr. Maddin is a member of the Nashville Medical Society; the Tennessee State Medical Society, of which he has served as president; the American Association ; the American Medical Association ; and in 1876 was a

Tennessee delegate to the International Medical Collep. at Philadelphia.

In the first year of the late war, during the occupa tion of Nashville by the Confederate States army, he had the management of a large hospital in the city The wounded of both armies sent from the battle of Fort Donelson, and a large number of Confederate sick were left in his care when Gen. Johnston retreated to Shiloh, and were surrendered by him on the occupation by the Federal army.

From the beginning of the late war for six or seven years, educational enterprises were in a state of chao at Nashville, as it was the Federal military base of the " Army of the Cumberland." For several years after peace was declared it was necessary to enforce a military despotism to prevent anarchy. Dr. Maddin remained in the city, and though from nativity, education and socially, in sympathy and fellowship with the people of the South, yet; politically, he was loyal to the integrity of the Union. But the interpretation of those in authority admitted no conditions of divided loyalty ; demanding not only that of the head but also of the heart. Yet he demeaned himself with the good judg- ment to command the respect and professional confi- dence of the medical staff and officers stationed in the city, who availed themselves liberally of his medical skill, both for themselves and their families. He was thus enabled to be of service to many citizens, who were resting under the censure of disloyalty, and justly, for there were but few families not represented in the Confederate States army. On one occasion, while attend- ing upon the wife of a major- general, stationed at Nash- ville, for typhoid fever, some eight or ten staff officers were awaiting in the parlor to hear the report of the Doc- tor. When he announced the patient much improved, the party received the report with much satisfaction ; and this led to many social pleasantries. The doctor laid a complaint in his own behalf before them : " that the off- cers in command at Nashville did not recognize his social, professional and personal merits." They inquired, one and all, " How so ? Don't we send for you when we are sick ? and we do not remember to have been remiss in polite consideration." " Not that," he responded, " for on that score you extend more than I merit ; butit is this, that I am about the only citizen of Nashville you have not honored with a place among the convicts in the penitentiary; for you have made it the post of honor with our best citizens." They responded with much pleasantness : " Doctor, don't give yourself discomfort on that score; we have not overlooked you, for you would have been there too, but we have use for you professionally." This incident illustrates his good sense, prudence and judgment; for although he was classed by them with the South, yet he commanded their confidence and respect.

Whether his reputation be best based on the learning displayed in his lectures, on the success of his practice

PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

as a private physician, or on his skill as a surgeon, it is hard for the writer to determine, but the fact is easily stated that he has devoted his best energies to the study and practice of medicine, and consecrated the activities of a busy life to his profession with a loyalty alike creditable to himself' and to science. He has success- fully performed most of the capital surgical operations, among them ovariotomy; ligation of the external iliac, femoral, hypogastric and circumflex ilii, all in the same operation for traumatic aneurism of the external iliac ; ligation of the left subelavian artery, also for traumatic aneurism. This operation was, under the circumstances, deemed impracticable by able and experienced surgeons in consultation. The patient was a distinguished officer of the First Tennessee Confederate regiment. On a second consultation with Dr. Frank H. Hamil- ton, of New York, who was serving in high official rank on the medical staff of the Federal army, and then on duty at Nashville, who, in common with other able coun- selors, agreed that, though a forlorn hope, the operation gave the only chance for the patient's life, tendered his valuable assistance to Dr. Maddin in executing the work. Some of Dr. Maddin's other difficult though alike successful operations were: hip joint amputation in a child about two years old ; removal of superior maxil- lary and palate bones, etc.

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 21

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