Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 31

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

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The Nashville Medical College was founded by Drs. Paul F. Eve and William K. Bowling and other prominent medical gentlemen. The Nashville Medical College, after three years of independent existence, was incorporated as a department of the University of Ten- nessee, and is now one of the leading medical institutes of the South, having in 1882-83 a class of one hundred and seventy-six students.

Dr. Duncan Eve is a member of the American Med- ical Association, and of the Tennessee State and Nash- ville city Medical Societies, and for several years was permanent secretary of the State Society. He is now dean of the faculty of the medical department of the University of Tennessee; managing editor of the Southern Practitioner, a Nashville journal, devoted to medicine and surgery and collateral sciences; sur- geon to Eve's private infirmary, at Nashville ; surgeon of the Porter Rifles of that city, and for a time was captain of the Rock City Guards. In politics he is a Democrat; in Masonry a Knight Templar, and for two years was a member of the city board of aldermen. In 1867 and again in 1873 he made the tour of Europe "more to see the world," than for the purpose of visit- ing the medical institutions, though these did not escape his observation while abroad.

Dr. Eve married in Nashville, November 1, 1876, Miss Alice Horton, daughter of Col. Joseph W. Horton, now a retired merchant, formerly a colonel in the Confederate service. Her mother is the daughter of John M. Thompson, a wealthy planter and trader, origi- nally from Kentucky. Mrs. Eve was educated at Ward's Seminary, Nashville, and is a devoted member 18

of the Presbyterian church. By this marriage Dr. Eve has had three children, Bessie, Paul (died in 1880) and Duncan.

The subject of this sketch is a man of large build and tireless activities, and has the appearance of a man who has no need to be told to "cut boldly." In his entire make- up is plainly written, "aut Cursar aut nullus." To what- ever position in life the destinies might have assigned him he would have stood in the front rank. He has chosen to make his mark as a surgeon, and by unanimous con- sent he is among the first in that line. Yet he has not reached the meridian of life. Victor Hugo well said to Charles Sumner, "It is not years that make men great, years only make them old." And also, in Dr. Eve's case the writer finds an exception to the general rule that men of success begin life without name or fortune or help from any source. He did not spring from obscurity into prominence. Ile is a son of one of the most widely known families of the South. His father, Paul F. Eve, made a national and even a Euro -. pean reputation among the most eminent lights in the medical profession.

His mother, Sarah A. Duncan, his father's second wife, was born in Barnwell District, South Carolina, daughter of Rev. Hansford Dade Duncan, a very dis- tinguished Baptist divine, a lineal and most direct heir of "the Jennings estate," his mother being a Miss Jennings, of England. His father was a Scotchman, a lineal descendant of Lord Duncan, or King Duncan, as he was for a short time. Dr. Eve's mother was the Ten- nessee vice-president of the Confederate Monumental Association, which had its origin in Richmond, Virginia. She has three children: (1). Duncan Eve, subject of this sketch. (2). Paul F. Eve, professor of anatomy in the medical department of the University of Tennessee, and practicing surgery with his brother; married to Miss Jennie Brown, daughter of Maj. W. L. Brown, and grand-daughter of Judge Morgan W. Brown. (3). Sarah A. Eve, wife of Edward Drane, a merchant at Nashville.

Dr. Eve's half-sister, Annie Lou Eve, daughter of his father's first wife (a great-niece of Gen. David E. Twiggs of Mexican war fame), is now the widow of Col. V. K. Stevenson, a New York millionaire, builder of the Nashville and Chattanooga railroad. She has four children, Paul, Elouise, Maxwell and Annie.

Of Dr. Eve's father, Paul Fitzsimmons Eve, who was born on a rice plantation on the Savannah river, near Augusta, Georgia, June 27, 1806, and died at Nashville, November 3, 1877, the medical fraternity will doubtless publish his life in a separate volume, or in connection with those of his two most distinguished associates,

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William K. Bowling and Lunsford P. Yandell. He acquired more degrees than are worn by the titled aris- tocracy of Europe: A. B., A. M., M. D., L. L. D., Bearer of the Golden Cross of Honor of Poland, 1831; presi- dent of the American Medical Association, 1857-8, and the Tennessee Medical Society, 1871-2; centennial repre- sentative of surgery in the Medical Congress of Nations at Philadelphia, 1876; successively professor of surgery in the Medical College of Georgia, 1832 19; in the Uni- versity of Louisville, 1850, in the medical department University of Tennessee 1851-68, in the Missouri Med- ical College 1868-9, in the medical department of the Nashville and Vanderbilt Universities 1870-76, and Nashville Medical College; associate editor of the Nashville Medical and Surgical Journal, and of the Southern Medical and Surgical Journal; author of " Remarkable Cases in Surgery," and of six hundred original papers, reports and biographical sketches of eminent medical men ; volunteer surgeon in the United States army in the Mexican war; surgeon-general of Tennessee in the civil war; member of the American Medical Board; founder of the Nashville Medical Col- lege, and seventy times, in seventy-eight operations, suc- cessful in the bilateral method in lithotomy, thus winning a name among the most skillful of American surgeons. This eminent man endeared himself to the people of Nashville and the South by his patriotic services in the Confederate army, as a surgeon at Nash- ville, at Atlanta, at Columbus, at Shiloh and other

points. He distinguished himself in the noble offices of human relief, not only on the battle-fields of his country, but in Poland in 1831, in France in 1850, and at the great battles of Solferino and Magenta in the Austro- Italian war of 1859. Though a man of research and thought, and having the appearance of one weighing facts and balancing conclusions, and following out with firmness and decision his own deductions, he was neither a dogmatist in opinions nor imperious in his manner of asserting them. His face was kindly and his presence a social delight. Nor did he seem conscious of his superiority in the profession to which he had couse crated his faculties and his life; though a sage he had that modesty and meekness in his air and bearing that won the hearts of all who knew him. His father, Capt. Oswell Eve (whose mother was a great-aunt of Gen .- James Longstreet, of Georgia), was of English descent, while his mother, Alpha Au , was of Irish stock. His father was a classmate of Drs. Rush, Ship- pen and James, of Philadelphia, and is said to have been the first person, or among the first, to take a steamer across the Atlantic.

The predominant of the Eve family on both sides, is best expressed in the word-push. Great families make great States, and Tennessee cherishes the name of Paul F. Eve as that of a man who excelled in his profession, and bequeathed to her a family not unworthy of the name he made illustrious.

IION. EDWIN HICKMAN EWING.

MURFREESBOROUGH.

N TO name in Tennessee shines with a more steady radiance than that of the Ewing family. It is one of the immovable jewels of the State, and is con- nected with its congressional, legislative, judicial, legal, medical, literary and banking history, and dates back to 1780. There is not a stain upon its escutcheon. No member of it has been marked or spotted as addicted to gaming, drunkenness, dissoluteness, nor by the wiles and trickery of the demagogue. The heroie vices never attached to the family. They are society people, distin- guished for their culture, refinement and high sense of honor, and are brave without vainglory, proud without being haughty, affluent without arrogance, and promi- nent without being pretentious.

The oldest living and probably the best representative of the family is the subject of this sketch, Hon. Edwin Hickman Ewing. He was born in Davidson county, Tennessee, December 2, 1809, and there grew up, attend- ing the schools of the city, and graduating in October,

1827, from the University of Nashville, under the cele- brated Dr. Philip Lindsley, in a class of twelve, among whom were Gen. Gideon J. Pillow, Hon. David W. Dickinson, for several years M.C., Hon. Ebenezer J. Shields, M.C. from Giles county, G. W. Foster, Thomas Foster, and Dr. Patrick D. Nelson, of Rutherford county.

From the age of fifteen young Ewing determined to be a lawyer, and in school and at college studied with that end in view. After graduation he obtained license to practice, January, 1831, from Supreme Judge John Catron and Circuit Judge James Stewart, and thence- forward practiced regularly in the county, circuit, chan- cery and Supreme courts. He was in the Supreme court as early as 1833. He practiced at Nashville without any break from 1831 to 1851, except the time he was in Congress and the Legislature, to be mentioned hereafter. In 1837 he took his brother, Hon. Andrew Ewing, into partnership, which continued until 1851.

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In 1840 he canvassed the "counties around Nashville in favor of the election of Gen. William Henry Harri- won to the presidency, during which he got into divers difficulties with Democratic politicians and editors, Judge Ewing's prominence and ability as a speaker making him a standing target for the shots of the Democratic leaders.

In 1842 he was a member of the Tennessee Legisla- ture from Davidson county, elected as a Whig, without opposition. When that General Assembly organized he was made chairman of the committee on federal relations.

In the latter part of 1845 he became the successor of Dr. J. H. Peyton, brother of Hon. Bailey Peyton, who had been elected to represent Davidson, Sumner, Smith and Macon counties in the United States Congress. Judge Ewing was elected in opposition to Gov. Trous- Jale. Ile took his seat in January, 1846, after the committees had been formed. In Congress he made a number of speeches on the tariff, the Oregon question, the Mexican war, and the river and harbor bill, which were published and at once gave him a reputation which was an honor to himself and a credit to his State. Hon. Alexander Stephens, then in Congress, said of his speech on the tariff, it was the best he had ever heard on that subject.

Declining a re-election, he returned to his law prac- tice, which he continued with his brother until April, 1851, when, his health failing from his large and laborious law business, he took a trip to Europe, start- ing April 2, 1851, and being absent eighteen months. lle visited England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Ger- many, Italy and Switzerland, traveling in the latter country six hundred miles on foot, meanwhile recover- ing his health. Hle then went to Egypt and up the Nile as far as Assouan, at the cataracts, inspecting the pyramids, the temples and other noted ruins; and, then making a detour to Suez, went down the Gulf of Suez to Mt. Sinai, which he ascended ; thence by the Gulf of Akabah visited Petra; thence to Hebron, on the borders of Palestine, and the home of the patriarch Abraham, whose tomb he visited. He then went to Jerusalem ; to the river Jordan, and bathed in it ; then to Bethlehem, to the Dead Sea, and then north to Da- mascus-the oldest of cities; saw the rivers Abana and Pharphar, and ascended to the headwaters of the famous stream. On the route from Damascus to Beirout, he took in Baalbec and measured a corner-stone in its walls-66x18x12. From Beirout he went to Smyrna, thence to Constantinople, Trieste, Paris, London and home. These travels in the East made Judge Ewing, who is always an entertaining conversationalist, much sought after by those interested in oriental places of historical interest.

Not long after his arrival at Nashville, he was called upon to pronounce a eulogy on Daniel Webster. This address, delivered in 1852, gave him more fame as a

writer and orator than any other of his numerous ad- dresses and papers, on all manner of subjects, published sometimes over his own name; sometimes under a nom de plume.

Judge Ewing continued to practice law, in a per- functory way, only in important cases, until 1857, at which time he was worth upwards of one hundred thousand dollars. In 1857 he bought a fine plantation in Rutherford county, and moved there, but returned to Nashville in 1859 with his son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Emmet Eakin, and lived with them for a year, when they removed to Saline county, Missouri, near Marshall. In 1860 he again removed to Murfrees- borough to live with his son, Josiah W. Ewing, intend- ing to practice law no more.

The war came on and his sons, Josiah and Orville, both went into the Confederate service, and Judge Ewing remained on his son's place, three miles from Murfreesborough. During the war Judge Ewing was under surveillance of the Federal troops on account of his sympathy for the South, though up to the war he had been a Union man, but heartily with the South after Federal invasion begun.

After the war he continued to live with his son until January 1, 1866, when he resumed the practice of law at Murfreesborough, in partnership with Hon. E. D. Hancock. This partnership was dissolved in 1869, after which Judge Ewing appeared in cases mostly at Nash- ville-bank and railroad cases-meanwhile frequently contributing articles to the press on metaphysics, re- ligion, and politics. He wrote what may be called the basis of the speeches and writings that have since been made on the State debt question, Judge Ewing taking the ground that the State is liable for the whole debt, but that the creditors should allow a large deduction as an equity.

In 1880 he was appointed Judge of the Supreme court of Tennessee, vice Judge Cooper, disqualified on ac- count of his having, as chancellor, decided many of the cases taken by appeal from Davidson county. He after- wards took the place of Judge Peter Turney, absent on account of rheumatism and the old wound he received during the war. In 1881-2, by request of the other members of the court, Gov. Hawkins appointed Judge Ewing special judge in place of Judge- Cooper, inca- pacitated on account of being the owner of State bonds, to sit, in what has since become the "one hundred and three case." Judge Ewing delivered the opinion ad- vancing the case on the docket, and afterwards, in the final disposition of the case, three of the judges, Free- man, MeFarland and Turney, enjoined the issuance of new bonds by the funding board. Judge Ewing wrote and delivered the dissenting opinion, which the lawyers speak of as his monument. This opinion was the most labored effort of Judge Ewing's life. [See Lea's Su- preme Court Reports, 1881-2.]. For the past three or four years Judge Ewing has been receiving no fees,

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practicing merely to wind up his old cases, only a few of which now remain.

Judge Ewing married at Nashville, in 1832, Miss Re- becca Williams, a native of Davidson county, daughter of Josiah Williams (at one time Sheriff of Davidson county), a large farmer on the splendid tract since known as " Maplewood." Her grandfather died in North Carolina. His oldest son, William Williams, was at one time a member of the Legislature from Davidson county. The Williams family came from North Carolina, and were quite prominent people in Davidson county. They are of Welsh extraction.

Mrs. Ewing's mother was a daughter of Joseph Phil- lips, a respectable magistrate of Davidson county. Mrs. Ewing's cousin, Mrs. John Felix Demoville, of Nash- ville, is a grand-daughter of Joseph Phillips, as is also Mrs. James C. Warner, a sister of Mrs. Ewing.

Judge Ewing and his two brothers, Andrew and Orville, married three sisters, daughters of Josiah Wil- liams. Judge Robert Ewing, of Nashville, member of the board of public works and affairs (facetiously called the "big three "), is a son of Andrew Ewing, and a nephew of Judge Ewing, subject of this sketch. His niece, Rebecca, daughter of Andrew Ewing, is the wife of Henry Watterson, the famous editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Of Judge Ewing's five brothers: (1). John O. Ewing became a physician of much merit and prominence, but died at the age of twenty-six in the year 1826. Ilis son, John O., married a daughter of Alexander Campbell, the famous West Virginia preacher, and afterwards married a daughter of John M. Bass, of Nashville. (2). Henry Ewing was clerk of the county court of David- son, and afterwards in New York. (3). Albert Ewing was a Christian preacher, and died at Eureka, Illinois, sixty-eight years old. He married Jane Caroline, daugh- ter of the celebrated Alexander Campbell. (4). Orville Ewing was president of the Planters Bank of Nashville for many years. Though bred a lawyer he never prac- ticed. (5). Andrew Ewing was a member of Congress as a Democrat from a Whig district. lle died at At- lanta, Georgia, in the Confederate service, being judge of the permanent military court of Gen. Bragg's Army of the Tennessee. He left a reputation for being one of the best common law lawyers the State ever had. He was a very eloquent speaker, and being a prominent politician was one of the Democratic leaders of Ten- nessee.

By his marriage with Miss Williams Judge Ewing has had four children : (1). Josiah W. Ewing, born in 1834; graduated from Bethany College, West Virginia, under President Alexander Campbell ; married, in 1855, Miss Ada B. Hord, daughter of Thomas Hord, a wealthy and highly respected farmer and retired lawyer of Ruth- erford county. He has four children, Thomas II., Orville, Einmet and Josie. (2). Jane Caroline Ewing, born in 1836; graduated from the Nashville Female

Academy ; married Emmet Eakin, who died during the war, and by him had four children, Rowena, Florence, Sallie ( Lovie) and Arthur D. The latter died at Mem- phis, at the age of twenty, a professor in the medical college of that city. After the war Mrs. Eakin became the wife of Dr. James E. Wendell, of Murfreesborough, and bore him one child, a daughter, Jane, who died at the age of twelve. The mother died in 1872, aged thirty five. (3). Florence Ewing, educated at Nashville and married, first, Andrew. Fletcher, by whom she had two children, Edwin, and one who died in infancy. After Mr. Fletcher's death she married Dan P. Perkins, .. of a prominent Williamson county family, and by this marriage has two children, Rebecca and Sarah Lou. (4). Orville Ewing, who went into the Confederate army in Col. Joel A. Battle's Twentieth Tennessee regiment as sergeant-major, and was badly wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of Mill Springs. He was killed in the battle of Murfreesborough, Wednesday, December 31, 1862, the very day he was appointed to a position on the staff of Gen. William Preston.

Judge Ewing has one great-grandchild, Ethel Reed, daughter of Florence Reed, who is the daughter of Jane Caroline Eakin and wife of James H. Reed, a hardware merchant at Murfreesborough.

Judge Ewing's father, Nathan Ewing, was clerk of the county court of Davidson county, a man who sus- tained a character of exceeding honesty, diligence and attention to business. He was the son of Andrew Ewing, who came from Rockbridge county, Virginia, to Tennessee, in 1780, and was the first clerk of the county court of Davidson county, which, with Sumner county, then embraced nearly all of Middle Tennessee. Judge Ewing's father was born in Virginia in 1776. The Ewings are of Scotch-Irish, deep-dyed, Presbyterian origin.

Judge Ewing's mother, whose maiden name was Sarah Hill, was a daughter of Daniel Hill, a farmer, a native of North Carolina, who came to Tennessee, when she was nine years old. Lieut .- Gen. D. H. Hill, one of Gen. Lee's most distinguished corps command- ers, belongs to the same family. Mrs. Ewing's mother was a Hickman, of North Carolina. Hickman county, Tennessee, was named for the brother of Judge Ewing's maternal grandmother, and for him Judge Ewing, him- self, was named Edwin Hickman. He was prominent as an Indian fighter, was a surveyor and pioneer settler in Tennessee. He was killed in camp at night by the Indians.

Judge Ewing's mother died in 1855, at the age of seventy-five, a model woman, of fine sense, of extensive reading, a well-balanced mind and fascinating conver- sational talents, fond of poetry and of quoting the standard poets. She, too, was of Scotch-Irish origin, but in her religious faith a staunch " Campbellite." She had six sons who grew to manhood, and made some figure in life, and there has never been a vice of gam- ing, drunkenness or dissoluteness attached to their

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names. Hler last child was a daughter, Sarah, who died four years old.

Judge Ewing belongs to no secret society, and to no church, and never had any partnership or formed any association except with lawyers. In religion, he is an agnostic-denying nothing, affirming nothing, as his writings clearly show. Yet he is a man of broad catholi- cism and liberality of opinion. He is one of the most successful lawyers in Tennessee, and. has always been considered a wealthy man. When asked for the meth- ods by which he had succeeded, he replied, " I can't say that I had any method. I lived from day to day and from hand to mouth. In that regard I am like the knife grinder, I have no story to tell."

For an estimate of Judge Ewing's character, the writer sought an interview with Judge W. H. William- son, of Lebanon, and Hon. James D. Richardson, of Murfreesborough, and from their informal conversation, gathered the following: Judge Ewing is not what is called a social man except with his intimate friends and men of the profession. Yet he is very kind-hearted and sympathetic. He and his brother, Andrew, were always popular but without demagogy. Andrew was a fine popular speaker, persuasive and earnest, and the best jury lawyer Tennessee ever had. It is said their mother never went to rest at night until every one of her sons were up stairs in bed ; and she made men of them all, strong men who are as so many monuments to her motherly care, and as so many jewels to the State. There is not a man of the Ewing name, all the way back and all the way down, but is of unblemished char acter. Judge Ewing has long been considered the Nestor of the Tennessee bar. In ability, wisdom, pro- found learning in the law, and fine belles-lettres scholar- ship, there is no lawyer in Tennessee that ranks him. He is a hard-working, energetic, brilliant lawyer ; an

untiring investigator, leaving nothing unturned, work- ing because he loves to work. His style of oratory is earnest, sometimes vehement.

Gen. Joseph B. Palmer, of Murfreesborough, when asked for an estimate of Judge. Ewing's character, re- plied: " Mr. Ewing is a profound and critical scholar, to which he has made the addition of a most extensive and careful course of general reading. Very few busi- ness men have read so much. He has frequently filled a place on the Supreme bench for long spaces of time, under special appointments, and his written opinions, published in the reports of the last thirty years, mark him a genius and the possessor of deep learning, of which the most distinguished of lawyers might feel a just and honorable pride. To the younger members of the profession wherever he has lived, he has always been of incalculable advantage, ready to advise and instruct and aid them in the solution of embarrassing difficulties, which often greatly depress young men. This he was enabled to do, owing to his great readiness with the best authorities on almost any legal proposition that might be sprung. In addition to this, his own elevated ex- ample and conduct in his profession has been a constant stimulus to every young man who had any ambition to excel in the law. In his profession Judge Ewing has always charged good fees, uniformly, but not extrava- gantly, nor extortionately by any means, and while he has taken reasonable compensation for his services, his object has been usefulness to others rather than pecu- niary profit to himself. He is a very fine business man, giving close attention to all matters entrusted to his care, as well as to his own personal dealings with all men. In his feelings and intercourse with men of what- ever creed, he is liberal, catholic and charitable. Taken all in all, he is an honor to his race and a blessing to his country."

REV. THOMAS J. DODD, D.D.

T HOMAS J. DODD was born at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, August 4, 1837, the son of Prof. James B. Dodd, a native of Loudon county, Virginia, who, after being professor of mathematics in Centenary C'ol- lege, Mississippi, filled the same chair in the college at Jackson, Louisiana, and was subsequently professor of mathematics, and for a while president, of Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky. He was the author of a very popular series of mathematical text-books, Dodd's arithmetic, algebra, geometry and trigonometry, that had a large circulation until the publishers failed at the opening of the late war. He was a man of single- ness of aim in his profession, both as an educator and

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 31

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