Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 33

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

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He is now a member of the Tennessee State Medical Society, and of the American Medical Association. He is a Democrat, a Master Mason, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and was for a long time a steward of the Athens station.

Dr. Atlee married, at Athens, Tennessee, May 22, 1856, Miss Sarah Humphreys, daughter of Hilton Humphreys, a merchant of that town. Her mother, we Miss Lucinda E. Toncray, daughter of David Ton- cray, from near Abingdon, Wythe county, Virginia, came to Athens in her girlhood, about 1834, and taught school there until her marriage. She was a finely edu- cated lady and of very superior attainments. She died in September, 1878, at the age of sixty-eight years, leaving two children : (1). Sarah Humphreys, now wife of Dr. Atlee. (2). Mrs. Frank Coleman.

Mrs. Adee was educated at Athens, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. She is a lady of much intelligence, and remarkable for the facility with which she makes friends in all circles in which she moves.

By his marriage with Miss Humphreys, Dr. Atlee has four children : (1). James B. Atlee, born Decem- ber 21, 1861; graduated at Vanderbilt University in 1883, and is now studying medicine. (2). John Light Atlee, jr., born April 1, 1866. (3). Frank Hilton Atlee, born May 30, 1868. (4). Sarah Atlee, born March 29, 1873.

Dr. Atlee's paternal uncle, Dr. John Light Atlee, now eighty-six years of age, and engaged in the active practice of his profession, was born at Lancaster, Penn- sylvania, November 2, 1799; graduated M. D. from the University of Pennsylvania, April, 1820; took the de- gree of L. L. D. from Franklin and Marshall College ; was president of the Lancaster county Medical Society ; president, in 1857, of the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, and president of the American Medical Asso- ciation in 1882-83. He is famous as a surgeon, espe- cially for the number of his operations of ovariotomy. In June, 1843, he, with his brother, revised the opera -. tion of ovariotomy that was first performed by Dr. Ephraim MeDowell in Kentucky, in 1809.

His brother, Dr. Washington Atlee (Dr. John L. Atlee's uncle), studied medicine under Dr. James L. Atlee, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania ; moved to Phila- delphia in 1845; filled the chair of medical chemistry in the medical department of the Pennsylvania College at Philadelphia, and, during the course of his practice, performed the operation of ovariotomy three hundred and eighty-seven times. On the occasion of his death, Dr. Samuel Gross offered resolutions which were adopted by the Philadelphia County Medical Society, complimenting him as an ornament to the profession, as one of the pioneers in ovariotomy in America, and of having placed it upon a firm and permanent basis as one of the established processes of the healing art, thus conferring immense benefit upon suffering women by increasing their comfort and prolonging their lives ; also complimenting his memory as an author and able thinker, and for his contributions to gynecology and other branches of medical science. His published works embrace a volume on ovariotomy, and forty-seven papers and twenty one lectures on various subjects.

Dr. Atlee's grand unele, Col. Samuel John Atlee, of Revolutionary fame, was born at Trenton, New Jersey, in 1739, was a commissioned officer in the French and Indian wars, and was present at Braddock's defeat in 1758. He served under Gen. Forbes, was lieutenant and afterwards captain in that campaign. He was ap pointed March 21, 1776, colonel ofthe Pennsylvania State battalion of musketry; on the 27th of August, 1776, he achieved imperishable fame at the battle of Long Island under Washington. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1778 and served till 1782. In October, 1783, he was elected supreme executive coun- selor of Lancaster county, and served in the General Assembly of 1782-85-86. In 1734 he was appointed one of the three commissioners to treat with the Indians, and his name appears in the treaty of January 21, 1785. He died while a member of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, November 25, 1786. A tablet to his memory has recently been placed in Christ church, Philadelphia.

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PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

PROF. ANDREW H. BUCHANAN.

LEBANON.

T HE Buchanans are of Scotch-Irish stock. Thomas Buchanan, grandfather of Prof. Andrew II. Buchanan, subject of this sketch, died a farmer in Ar- kansas, leaving a reputation for being a correct business man and a good and faithful Christian. Prof. Buch- anan's uncle, Rev. John Buchanan, of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, did more to christianize Arkansas than any man who ever lived in that State. Ife traveled over the State and preached nearly all his life, distrib- uted Bibles, and was a leader in other good works.

Prof. Buchanan's father was Isaac Buchanan, a native of Kentucky, who grew up in Tennessee, was a farmer all his days, a man of small fortune and but little edu- cation. He lost his life during the war, at the age of sixty-one. Although a gentleman, honored above most men as a father, he had been required to take the oath of allegiance to the Federal government, which he re- fused to do, being southern in sentiment, in principle and interest. He was killed at Cane Hill, Arkansas, by a command of Indians, while standing at his own cellar door. Hle had given them as many apples as they wished, and turned to lock the door, when he was shot down in cold blood by the savages in the service of the Federal authorities. Some months after his death, three of his sons were killed on the same day while in the Confederate service at Cane Hill. Isaac Buchanan was notably firm in his positions for the right, always expressing himself freely and fearlessly, which was one cause of his being killed. He determined in early life to give his children suitable education, if nothing else, and exerted himself in that direction as the lead- ing object of his life. Every one of them received a collegiate education before his death.

Prof. Buchanan's mother was Naomi Crawford, daughter of John Crawford, a successful farmer of Lincoln county, Tennessee. She is now living, seventy- nine years old, with her son at Lebanon, Tennessee. Her mother was Margaret Buchanan. She is the mother of seven sons and one daughter: (1). Andrew II., subject of this biography. (2). Alfred E., a civil engineer ; now superintendent of the Cotton Belt Nar- row Gauge railroad. He graduated in engineering under Gen. Alexander P. Stewart at Lebanon, and has been in employment as an engineer, except one year during the war, from 1851 until the present time. Ile married Miss Henrietta F. C. Smettem, and now resides at Little Rock, Arkansas. (3). William M., graduated at Lebanon, and lost his life in the Confederate service at Cane Hill, Arkansas. (1). Pleasant. W., graduated at Lebanon, was professor of mathematics in Cane Hill College ; was a captain in the Confederate army, and

killed at Cane Hill. (5). John T., graduated at Cane Hill College, and at Lebanon in the theological de- partment ; married Miss Alta Russell, and is now a minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian church, at Pierce City, Missouri. (6). James G., graduated at Cane Hill College, and lost his life in the Confederate ser: vice at Cane Ilill, Arkansas. (7). Cyrus W., died at the age of seventeen. (8). Elizabeth Cyrene, educated at Independence, Missouri; married Prof. W. D. Mc- Laughlin, of Cumberland University, now residing at Lebanon.

Andrew H. Buchanan was born in Washington county, Arkansas, June 28, 1828. He was raised very strictly, trained to work very hard during the summers, but was sent to school during the winters until twenty- one years old. In the fall of 1850, he entered Cumber- land University at Lebanon, Tennessee, and graduated in 1853, in the academic and civil engineering depart- ments, under Profs. Anderson, Stewart, Marriner and James M. Safford. Hle then spent one year in civil engineering on the Missouri Pacific railroad, after which he returned to Lebanon and filled the chair of civil engineering in the university, and of languages in the preparatory department, and remained in that position till 1861, when he joined the Confederate army as an engineer and was attached to the headquarter topograph- ical engineering corps of Gen. Bragg's army, from the fall of 1862 to the battle of Chickamauga, and after- wards under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston till the close of the war, being engaged without intermission in the work of a topographical engineer. Gen. Johnston has stated since the war that he planned many a battle dur- ing the Dalton-Atlanta campaign from the maps of Lieut. Buchanan without having seen the ground him- self, and from a reference to him in " Johnston's Nar- rative" (p. 320), it is evident that he placed the utmost confidence in his intelligence and faithfulness.

After the close of the war Prof. Buchanan taught a high school three years at Cane Hill, Washington county, Arkansas, averaging about two thousand dollars a year in tuition fees. In the fall of 1869 he was recalled to Cumberland University, in which he has filled the chair of mathematics and civil engineering ever since, at a nominal salary of two thousand dollars. From August, 1876, he has been engaged in the geodetic survey of the State of Tennessee, under the direction of the superin- tendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, working at this some five months each year. In 1882, under appointment of Prof. Hilgard, superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, he as- sisted in observing the transit of Venus, December 6, at

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the Naval Observatory, Washington, the party being under the charge of Prof. William Harkness, of the observatory.

Prof. Buchanan married at Spring Hill, Maury county, Tennessee, July 10, 1855, Miss Malinda A. Alexander, a native of Henry county, Tennessee, niece of Dr. J. W. Sharber, of Spring Hill, by whose liberality she was educated. She graduated at Soule Female College, Murfreesborough, is a member of the Cumberland Pres- byterian church, taught school a few months during the war, and has made a model wife and mother, character- ized chiefly by her ambition to train up her children to be useful Christians. Nine children have been born unto them, four of whom died in infancy. The five living children are : (1). James C., graduated at Cum- berland University, and is now an engineer 'on the Georgia Pacific railroad. (2). Andrew B., graduated in the academic and theological departments of Cum- berland University, and is now stationed as a Cumber- land Presbyterian preacher at Camden, Tennessee. (3). Isaac W. P., now a student at Cumberland University. (4). Kate Stewart. (5). Blanche Alexander.

All of Prof. Buchanan's family are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. He is a member of the temperance order of Good Templars. He was a Whig while there were Whigs, but has been trying to be a Democrat since the war, and though not taking much active interest in politics, may be classed a Democrat.

Prof. Buchanan began life without means, except the education given by his father, and, like bookish men generally, has not had much time to make money. He has had to work hard all his life, and it is probably among the greater of human blessings that a man is compelled to develop his talents and do something to avoid living on the fruits of other men's labor. His preference when he started out in the world was to fol- low the business of civil engineering above all else, but thinking that his life as a Christian would not be worth as much to the word in that business, he relin- quished, with some reluctance, that line of life. While in college Prof. (afterwards lieutenant-general) Stewart suggested to him the advisability of following practical engineering a year or two and then to return and assist. him in conducting the university engineering school. This led him to the business of teaching, at which he has been engaged ever since. In teaching, he explains

the difficulties of problems first, then requires pupils to explain them at the board to him. The class comes in and presents its difficulties, each pupil being allowed to ask his questions freely, which are then solved, and the pupils required to go to the board and explain whatever may be called for in the whole lesson.

Prof. Buchanan has distinguished himself whenever he has come in contact with intelligence that appre- ciates a man of real merit. Without the address to attract popular notice in his position as teacher, and in his connection with government service, he has, how- ever, commanded the attention of some of the ablest scientific thinkers in this country. He did the same while he was a soldier, and when he was in contact with the most observant and most capable men in the Confederate army. He is a close thinker on many sub- jects outside of his profession as a mathematician, and especially in his investigations of Christian theology. Ife is a thorough worker in the church to which he be- longs; a devoted advocate of good morals in the society in which he moves; impartial in his judgment, strict in his morality ; an exemplar in all his conduct, both as a citizen and a Christian. His character is felt and ap- preciated in his own circle, and has a wide influence upon the lives of the young men committed to his care. An earnest and faithful worker in the field of science, he constitutes one of those, to some extent, unseen forces, that control the thought and morals of the peo- ple whom he so well serves. As a mathematician, in his connection with the United States Coast Survey, he. has been efficient in formulating new methods in that department, and has become distinguished among the oldest scientific men connected with the government in that important department. His connection therewith was not obtained through political influence, but was secured by the intelligence of that department, a fact which has reflected credit not alone upon them, but has demonstrated that modest and true merit will sometimes be found out by earnest men in the most exalted posi- tions.

Prof. Buchanan set out in life to be a Christian, to be useful to his generation, and he is training his children in the same direction. Not indifferent to the applause of his contemporaries, he seems mostly controlled by a desire to stand well .in the court of his own conscience and in the sight of his Creator.

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PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

JAMES ELDER.

MEMPILLS.

IIIS gentleman, known far and wide as a successful business man, and one of the leading bankers of Memphis, was born in Dinwiddie county, Virginia, Oc- tober 8, 1809, the son of William Elder, a farmer, and Miss Mary Towler, daughter of Benjamin Towler, an ex-Revolutionary soldier, of Dinwiddie county, men- tioned in further detail in the sketch of Mr. Elder's brother, John W. Elder, elsewhere in this volume.

When James Elder was only six years old, his father removed the family to Rutherford county, Tennessee. James Elder was educated at Murfreesborough, under Samuel P. Black, a teacher, who educated many of the most prominent men of Tennessee. He left school at the age of eighteen, and began business as a clerk in a dry goods store of his brother, Benjamin Elder, at Mur- freesborough, and there remained until 1835. He then removed to Holly Springs, Mississippi, and engaged first in the sale of dry goods and next in that of boots and shoes, remaining there until 1850, at which time, his brothers having gone into the cotton and commis- sion business at New Orleans, he moved to Memphis to act as their agent, which he did until 1854.

At this latter date he was elected president of the Memphis branch of the Planters Bank of Tennessee, a position which he filled for twoyears. He then returned to the cotton and commission business, in which he continued until 1862, when he closed his warehouse on account of troublous war times. Ile followed no regu- lar occupation from that time until 1864, when he again engaged in banking as president of the DeSoto Bank of Memphis, a position which he filled until 1874, when the bank's charter expired, and the business of the De- Soto Bank having been transferred to the Bank of Commerce, he retired from office, but remained a stock. holder and subsequently became a director in the latter institution. Although brought up to mercantile pur- suits, Mr. Elder had but little taste for them, always preferring those of finance.

Previous to the war Mr. Elder belonged to the Whig party, but now votes with the Democrats ; yet he is by no means an unreasoning partisan, and was never a candidate for political office. He served several terms as councilman of the city of Memphis under the old government, both before and since the war.

He has been a member of the Presbyterian church for about forty-six years, and has been an elder for forty years.

Mr. Elder was married August 23, 1832, to Miss Elizabeth H. Niles, daughter of Charles Niles, of Mur- freesborough, Tennessee. Her mother was Miss Wade, of the well-known Rutherford county family of that name, and a cousin of Levi Wade, esq., and Capt. Ethel. B. Wade, of Murfreesborough. She died in December, 1882, having borne six children, five of whom are now living; all daughters and all married : (1). Marietta Elder, now wife of S. II. Dunscombe, president of . ... the Bank of Commerce of Memphis; has five chil- dren. (2). Sallie E. Elder, now widow of the late Gen. W. Y. C. Humes, and has four children. (3). Susan W. Elder, now wife of Judge W. L. Scott, of St. Louis; has four daughters. (4). Isabella Elder, now wife of John B. Leech, of New York ; has nine chil- dren. (5). Lizzie Elder, now wife of John L. Norton, of Memphis, Tennessee ; has four children.

Mr. Elder is another type of the self-made man. Like most men who are successes, he has worked hard for what he owns. He began life without anything and worked at first for a salary of one hundred and fifty dol- lars a year, but with a determination to conquer his fortune, a determination which went a long ways in bringing about a happy result. By perseverance and by vigilance, by sober and steady habits, and by an un- faltering determination to discharge his duty faithfully and to act with integrity in all things, he has enjoyed a life full of good deeds and happy reflections. Nay, more. A sterling; quiet, unostentatious man, he has spent his days in assiduous attention to his own busi- ness, and careful avoidance of intermeddling with the business of others. A life-long Christian, after the strictest Presbyterian pattern, he has always found time and means for religious duties. Eminently domestic in his nature, no attraction or pleasure has been for him so great as those afforded by the home circle of his love.

His years have passed in the serenity of good health, good conscience, prospering business and happy family relations; and his sunset promises to be as calm and peaceful as that of a long day in June whose sky has known only passing clouds.

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PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

HON. W. L. LEDGERWOOD.

KNOXVILLE.

T HIS gentleman, whose name is widely known in Tennessee as a lawyer, a politician and a farmer, was born in Knox county, Tennessee, June 4, 1813, and grew up at work on his father's farm, going to the neighboring country schools at intervals, which were the only scholastic advantages he ever had. His parents bring strict Baptist people, he was raised under re- ligious influences and early acquired good moral habits.

In August, 1861, at the age of seventeen years, he entered the Union army as a private in company B, First Tennessee infantry, commanded by Col. R. K. Byrd, and served as a private soldier in that regiment until April 8, 1862, when he was transferred to the Third Tennessee infantry as first lieutenant of company I, and served in that capacity until May 25, 1863, when he became captain of the company and commanded it to the close of the war. He was mustered out February 23, 1865, at Nashville, having served in Tennessee, Ken- tueky, Ohio, Alabama, besides taking part in all the leading battles of the Georgia campaign. The last battle in which he was engaged was that at Nashville, between the forces of Gens. Hood and Thomas.

The war over, he returned home and went to farming again. In 1866, he was forced into politics and was nominated by the Knox county Democracy for the Legislature, but was defeated by Dr. M. L. Mynatt. In 1867 he was appointed by President Johnson second lieutenant in the Eighteenth regular infantry, United States army ; was examined on Governor's Island ; passed his examination and received his commission ; served in that regiment until the army was consolidated in 1869, when he was transferred to the Eighth cavalry, United States army; resigned in 1872, and again re- turned to Knox county and the farm.

Ile then read law alone at home for a year; was ad- mitted to the bar by Judge E. T. Hall and Chancellor O. P. Temple in 1873, and began practice at Knoxville, where he lived, until 1881, when he moved to " Cedar Grove farm," two miles from Knoxville, a property which he purchased in 1883. His law practice has been large from the beginning, for he has many warm personal and party friends.

In 1874 Capt. Ledgerwood was again nominated by the Democratic party as a candidate to represent Knox county in the Legislature, and this time was successful, being elected over Hon. S. T. Logan, recently senator from the Knoxville district. In the Thirty-eighth General Assembly (1875), Capt. Ledgerwood was chair- man of the committee on military affairs.

In 1880 he was elector for the Second congressional district on the Hancock and English ticket. In 1882 he was again nominated for the Legislature, was again

elected, and was chosen speaker of the House of the Forty-third General Assembly.

In 1884 he was nominated for congress in the Second Tennessee district, and though defeated by Judge L. C. Houk, reduced his opponent's majority one thousand and eight hundred votes below the vote of James G. Blaine, Capt. Ledgerwood leading the Cleveland and Bate vote by about that majority.

Capt. Ledgerwood has always been a Democrat-never voted any other way. Ilis father and grandfather and collateral branches of the family were Democrats before him, and the fidelity with which he has served his party no doubt will gain for him even more distinction in the future.

In 1866 Capt. Ledgerwood was made a Master Mason in Master's Lodge No. 244, Knoxville. Since then he has been made Knight Templar in Cœur de Lion Com- mandery No. 9, Knoxville, and a Knight of Malta; he is also a member of Pearl Chapter No. 24, Knoxville.

His father's family were Baptists. His wife and chil- dren are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and while he is only a paying member of the latter communion, he, however, firmly holds that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.

Capt. Ledgerwood married at Louisville, Kentucky, September 20, 1866, Miss Jo Strother, a native of Sum- ner county, Tennessee, born March 16, 1844, and named "Jo" in honor of the celebrated and greatly beloved Judge Jo. C. Guild. Mrs. Ledgerwood's mother was Mrs. Penina Strother, her maiden name being Penina Pitt, daughter of Gerald Pitt, an Englishman. Mrs. Ledgerwood's father, Henry Strother, was a native of Virginia, and a merchant at Gallatin. He died when the daughter was very young, and left three children, Allen, Jo and Thomas. Thomas Strother lost his life by an accident on the Louisville and Nashville railroad. Allen Strother is now an engineer on the Alabama Great Southern road, and is a somewhat remarkable character ; a communist; a prominent member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers; of high scien- tific attainments in his profession, and an eloquent speaker on subjects maintaining the rights of labor as against the money power. He married Miss Mary Haslam, of Nashville.

Mrs. Ledgerwood was educated at Louisville, and is a woman of quiet, domestic habits, and though not unsocial, is essentially a home-maker and a home-lover. She is noted for her frankness, and for her generosity, especially to those in distress.

By his marriage with Miss Strother, Capt. Ledger- wood has four children: (1). Claude, born August 16, 1867, in Knox county, Tennessee. (2), Sidney Aline,

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born March 15, 1869, at Sidney, on the Union Pacific railroad, then in Wyoming Territory, but now in Ne- braska. (3). Samuel T., born September 30, 1870, in Knox county, Tennessee. (4). Willie, born June 4, 1872, in Knox county, Tennessee.

Ledgerwood is a compound of two names. Upon the Irish side the family comes from St. Leger; upon the English side from a family named Wood. All the Ledgerwoods in the United States are of the same family, of Irish and English mixture. Capt. Ledger- wood's great-grandfather, James Ledgerwood, came from England and settled in Botetourt county, Vir- ginia; was in the Revolutionary war and also the war of 1812. He was a farmer and married a Miss Pierce, of Virginia.

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 33

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