Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 38

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 38

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Judge Frizzell was born, as should have been earlier stated, in Bedford (now Coffee) county, September 8, 1829, on the Garrison fork of Duck river. Excepting while in Nashville, filling the office of land register, as before related, he lived in Winchester from 1841 to 1868, when he removed to Nashville, and has lived there ever since.

In February, 1854, Judge Frizzell was licensed to practice law by Chancellor B. L. Ridley and Judge Nathaniel Baxter, and practiced at Winchester, except during the war, till his final removal to Nashville. From 1856 to the breaking out of the war, he was in partnership with Hon. A. S. Colyar (whose sketch see elsewhere in this volume). Hon. A. S. Marks was a member of the firm from 1858 to 1861. The partnership was dissolved by the war. (See sketch of Hon. A. S. Marks in this volume). For about two years, after 1865, Judge Frizzell was associated in practice with Hon. Peter Turney, now on the Supreme bench of the State. (See sketch of Hon. P. Turney in this volume).

For several years Judge Frizzell was trustee of the Robert Donnell Female Institute at Winchester. It 1870, after removing to Nashville, he was elected school commissioner in what was then the seventeenth school district of Davidson county, He took an active part in forming the voluntary association which conducted

the public schools of Davidson county until the present system was organized by legislative enactment. He has ever been an ardent friend of popular education, and was one of the most active citizens in urging the pass- age of the law under which the present system of public schools in Tennessee was organized. For about ten years he was a member of the board of education in the town of Edgefield, while it was yet a separate cor- poration, and, a greater portion of the time, was presi- dent of the board.

Upon the first serious threatenings of civil war, Judge Frizzell was in favor of resorting to all honorable means for the avoidance of bloodshed. But when it became apparent that war was inevitable, he promptly took a decided southern position. He volunteered as a private in Col. Turney's regiment, but before he reached the command, he was intercepted by a tele- gram calling him to Atlanta, where he was placed on post duty. Shortly afterwards, he was commissioned as captain and placed in charge of transportation and the auditing of railroad accounts. He remained in that department of the Confederate service, mainly en- gaged in auditing accounts, till the close of the war. The rank of major was given him just before the war ended. During his term of service, he disbursed over seven millions of dollars, and had his accounts audited and passed "O K" up to January 1, 1865, a record that few disbursing officers of the Confederacy can present.

In the ranks of Masonry Judge John Frizzell is a conspicuous figure, not only in Tennessee, but through- out the Union. From the period of his intiation, his "heart received the beauties of Masonry," and he was charmed with its work and its principles. There are but two other men in Tennessee, than Judge Frizzell, who have presided over all the grand bodies of Masonry in Tennessee : Maj. Wilbur F. Foster, Nashville, and HI. M. Aiken, Knoxville. Judge Frizzell's petition to Cumberland Lodge No. 8, Nashville, is dated Sep- tember 8, 1850, his twenty-first birth-day. He was initiated in October, passed in November, and raised December 21, 1850. Ile has served as Junior War- den and Master of Lodge, as Junior Grand Warden (in 1853), Deputy Grand Master (in 1854), Grand Mas- ter twice (1858-59), Grand Secretary since 1868, and as one of the committee to compile the Masonic Text- book of Tennessee. He was made a Royal Arch Mason, April 27, 1852, served as High Priest of the Chapter for several years; was Grand High Priest one year. He received the Council degrees in 1852, and has been Most Illustrious Grand Master of the Grand Council of Tennessee; was made a Knight Templar, Nashville Commandery No. 1, December 17, 1852, and was elected Grand Commander of the State in 1867; re- ceived the order of High Priesthood in 1860, and has been Grand President of the Order of High Priesthood of Tennessee. Since 1868, he has been continuously

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Grand Secretary of the Grand Chapter, and Grand Re- corder of the Grand Council. He received the Thirty- third degreeof the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in 1866, having taken the preceding degrees of that Rite in 1859. In 1874 he was elected Deputy General Grand Iligh Priest of the General Grand Chapter of the United States, and, in 1877, was elected General Grand High Priest. Few Masons in the world can present such a record. Judge Frizzell has also been Supreme Master Workman of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is also a Knight of Honor and a non- affiliated Odd Fellow.

In politics, Judge Frizzell followed his father, and has always been a Democrat. He has several times been a delegate to political conventions, but has never held any political office. In 1853 he made an experiment for the Legislature as a candidate in Franklin county, and was defeated by one hundred and seventy votes. This was the first canvass made by any candidate in the county on the principles of local option. Since then the county has sent two or three temperance men to the Legislature.

Under the act of 1883, authorizing the judges of the Supreme court to appoint referees for the three divisions of the State, Judge Frizzell was appointed, in connection with Judges John L. T. Sneed and S. J. Kirkpatrick, as one of the referees for East Tennessee. Ile has earned the reputation of being a clear-headed, painstaking, upright judge.

Judge Frizzell married, in Rutherford county, July 23, 1854, Miss Matilda Winford, a native of Winchester, daughter of William and Sophia Winford, both natives of Tennessee. Her father died in the Texas revolution, in 1837. Mrs. Winford (her mother) died in 1852. She supported herself and family by teaching school, and was a lady of fine mind and high culture. Mrs. Friz- zell is a graduate of Mary Sharpe College, Winchester, and has been of great benefit to her husband in his lit-

erary labors. She possesses all the traits of a perfect wife and mother, gentleness of disposition and firmness of purpose being her chief characteristics. She is, as also her husband, a consistent and earnest member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. In regard to the husband, it should have been stated that he joined the church in 1843, and has been an elder for the last thirty years. He was stated clerk of the General Assembly for eleven years, and in 1881, was elected Moderator -- the first layman to fill that position in any Presbyterian General Assembly in the United States. Ile was on the committee that revised the Confession of Faith. and Government of the Church, and prepared for that't committee the present constitution and regulations of the church. In June, 1884, the degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by Cumberland University, at Leb-r. anon, Tennessee.

Judge Frizzell and wife have had five children: four living, Sophie, John R., Maude and Charles F .; and one dead, Sallie.

In the narrative of the life of Judge Frizzell, we have sufficiently indicated his character as a man and lawyer. If anything more is lacking to convey to the reader a just idea of the man, his own frank utterances will supply the complement. In response to an inquiry concerning", his life, he said: " I started ou nothing. I assisted my father in raising his family. Whatever success I have attained in life, I owe to the faith I have had in the providence of God. That God will take care of and prosper those who trust in Him, I honestly believe. In." business, my father taught me that whatever is worth doing at all, is worth being well done. Under my fath- er's training, I have given great attention to details, and this is the secret of success." This being the car- dinal idea of Judge Frizzell's life, it is casy to see how he came to the front as a business lawyer. He is yet in the vigor of manly strength, and the State has still much to hope from him.

REV. N. M. LONG.

T HE distinguished young minister, whose name heads this sketch, was born in Somerville, Fayette county, Tennessee, July 27, 1849. When he was about nine years of age his mother, who had married a second husband, moved to Sullivan county, East Tennes- see, and here young hong grew up on a farm. Hle received his education at King College, Bristol, Ten- nessee, graduating in May, 1871, as valedictorian of his class, and the winner of the prize medal for oratory.

In his youth Mr. Long had intended to become a law- yer, but having joined the Presbyterian church in 1867,

he determined to study for the ministry. Therefore, after leaving King College, he entered the theological seminary at Columbia, South Carolina, and remained there two and a half years, being called in the middle of his third year to take charge of the Presbyterian church at Tallahassee, Florida. Here he remained four years, at the expiration of which he was called to Pu- laski, Tennessee, staying there one year. He then took charge of Lauderdale street Presbyterian church, Memphis, one year, and was next called to the Park Avenue church in the same city. In a short time he

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began to preach at the old First Congregational church, į which had been closed for several years on account of the epidemies. After six months' ministration at this church, now called the "Strangers' Church," the con- 1 gregation had grown so fast as to demand his whole attention, and he resigned the pastorate of Park Ave- que church.

Though brought up in the strictest school of old- style, orthodox Presbyterianism, Mr. Long has always been inclined towards liberalism and independence in religion, and never submitted, to some of the iron-clad doctrines of his church. While at the theological seminary he differed with his professors on a number of points. When he went to Memphis he was required by the presbytery to undergo a rigid examination before being admitted. However, he was admitted by a two- thirds vote, in the spring of 1881. After he had preached there one year some of the Presbyterian pastors and ellers presented a petition to the presbytery to compel him to cease preaching at an independent church with- uut orders from the presbytery. After three days' con- sideration of the matter the presbytery ordered him to give up the "Strangers' Church." From this decis- jon Mr. Long appealed to the synod of Memphis, which met at Florence, Alabama, in October, 1882, but they refused to consider the appeal, on the ground that it was not a judicial case, and an appeal did not lie. He then withdrew from the presbytery on condition that he was to receive a certificate of good membership, and that he withdrew at his own request, without censure. Since that time he has remained in charge of the " Stran- gers' Church," which has greatly flourished under his care. When reorganized its membership was only nine, but it has increased tenfold, while the congregations are larger in proportion to membership, perhaps, than any church in Memphis, and composed largely of the professional and leading business men of the city.

Mr. Long has been a strong advocate of temperance, and has delivered numerous sermons and lectures on prohibition. One of his lectures was printed in Chi- cago and widely circulated. In 1884 he delivered a series of sermons on the vexed question of the Sunday Law. In these sermons, though opposed by all the other ministers of the city, he took the ground that the law is unconstitutional and destructive of the rights of citizens. Ilis utterances on this subject created a pro- found impression, not only in Memphis, but all over Tennessee and adjoining States. One of his sermons has been printed and ten thousand copies distributed.

The following comment on his second sermon on this subject, delivered March 30, 1884, is from the editorial columns of the Memphis Appeal : "The Strangers' Church was filled last night when the Rev. Mr. Long delivered his second sermon on the Sunday Law. His first effort created a decided sensation, and his second . was looked forward to with unusual interest. In the audience last night could be seen hundreds of men with

whom it is the exception rather than the rule to attend church, and their presence was decided proof of the power of this minister who has risen step by step and day by day in the confidence and esteem of the general public, gathering about him a congregation of men who are not mere figureheads, but sound and logical think - ers, and who attend his meetings regularly, sustaining him because of the broad and liberal views he unhesi- tatingly expresses whenever occasion requires. His sermon last night was the result of profound study, and bore marks of careful preparation ; yet he used no notes, speaking rapidly and without a pause, except to give force to some well-grounded sentence. He was listened to throughout with profound attention."

As a speaker Rev. Mr. Long is clear, forcible and logical, Hle makes it a point in his public speaking to seek the good of the people; to follow with all his en- ergies whatever he undertakes; maintaining his position with all his earnestness, but at the same time is ever ready to yield when convinced that he is wrong, and to adopt views which he may have opposed when satisfied that they are correct. As a result of this he has been led to renounce many things which were ground into him when a boy, and to adopt others which he was taught to look upon with horror. Consequently, he now does his own thinking and says what he thinks. In whatever he undertakes he endeavors to stand at the head, no matter what it may cost in the way of personal labor or personal study. His course at college fully illustrated this. For languages and the natural sciences he had great fondness and easily mastered them, but for mathematics he had no taste whatever ; yet he deter- mined to master their mysteries, and by dint of perse- verance eventually stood at the head of his class. His strong points of character are energy, persistentey and a positive and determined nature.

In 1864 Mr. Long, though only fourteen years old, and very small for his age, enlisted for the Confed- erate service in Witcher's company of Owen White's battalion. He served several months and was one of the smallest boys in the army. When his command moved out of East Tennessee he was allowed to return to his home to take care of his mother, as his step-father had also gone into the army. When the Federals ad- vanced into that region he was not molested, no one having an idea that a boy so small had been a soldier.

In politics Mr. Long has always voted with the Dem- oerats. Ile could not well do otherwise, considering his teachings, his temperament and surroundings.

While in charge of the Tallahassee church he was elected to a professorship at King College, but could not accept because his church refused to accept his resig- nation. On a subsequent occasion the president of the college again tendered him a professorship, which he declined.

Mr. Long was married at Tallahassee, Florida, May 6, 1879, to Miss E. Shirley Wilson, daughter of W. R.

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Wilson, a prominent merchant, and an elder in the Presbyterian church of that city. Her grandfather, David Wilson, originally from Virginia, was also a lead- ing merchant at Tallahassee, and married Miss Shirley; of an old Virginia family. Mrs. Long's mother was Miss Frances Maxwell, daughter of Col. John S. Max- well, of Liberty county, Georgia. The Maxwell family is descended from the well-known family of that name in Scotland. Mrs. Long received her education at Tal labassee. She is a lady of bright social disposition, very genial, and a great favorite. She is a Presbyterian. Two children have been born to this couple : (1). Rich- ard Wilson Long, born December 17, 1881: died June 8, 1882. (2). Margaret Rhea Long, born March 30, 1883.

Rev. Mr. Long is descended from families of soldiers on both sides. His father, Col. N. Long, was born in Maury county, Tennessee, in 1816; graduated with distinction at the University of Nashville; served through the Florida war and was breveted colonel for gallantry on the field. He was a well educated, schol- arly gentleman, and had studied law and civil engineer- ing, but after joining the church gave up the law and devoted his whole attention to civil engineering. He met his death from exposure while engaged in the sur- vey and laying off of Obion county, Tennessee, dying in 1849, at the age of thirty-three. His father, Dr. John Joseph Long, was one of eight brothers, natives of Halifax county, North Carolina, and settled in Maury county in the early part of this century. His father, the great-grandfather of Rev. Mr. Long, was Nicholas Long, of Halifax county. The Long family is of Scotch- Irish descent, and has produced many distinguished orators and lawyers.

Mr. Long's paternal grandmother was Miss Quinland, of South Carolina. Two of Mr. Long's uncles, Edward and John Long, died in Texas a few years since. John Long served through the first Texas war, the Mexican war, and, although over fifty years old, commanded a company in the Confederate army.

On his mother's side Mr. Long is descended from the well-known Rhea family of Tennessee. His mother was Miss Margaret Rhea, born in Maury county in 1820; graduated at Nashville under Dr. Lapsley in 1836, and married, in 1818, Col. Nicholas Long, who, as before stated, died in 1819. In 1858, she married her cousin, Col. James D. Rhea (now living in Sullivan county, Tennessee). She died May 17, 1880, She was a lady of rare culture and literary talent, and wrote numerous poems and other articles, many of which were published in the Western Casket over the nom de plume of " Ten- nessee." She was a zealous Presbyterian and an earnest Sunday-school worker all her life. Her father was Matthew' Rhea, who graduated under Dr. Doak, of Washington county, Tennessee, and was considered one of the finest scholars in the State. He was the author of Rhea's map of Tennessee, the first and one of the

best ever made. Matthew Rhea's mother was Miss Preston, daughter of Col. Robert Preston, of the cele- brated old Virginia family of that name. Matthew Rhea's father was also named Matthew (great-grand- father of Mr. Long), and served in the Revolution, and was presented a sword by Gen. Nathaniel Greene for gallantry on the field at the battle of Guilford Court. house, North Carolina. His father, Rev. Joseph Rheu, was a Presbyterian minister, who came to Sullivan county, Tennessee, from Ireland before the Revolution, and was a son of Matthew " Reah " Campbell, who was exiled from Scotland, during the reign of James I.I., .of England. He was a cousin of the Duke of Argyl, and took part with him in the rebellion of 1685. Escaping. from prison, on the Isle of Man, he fled to Ireland and changed his name by dropping "Campbell " and transs. posing the "h," making the family name thereafter " Rhea."

At the beginning of the late war, Mr. Long's uncle, Matthew Rhea, became first-lieutenant in Capt. Bur- ton's company, which was raised at Somerville, and formed a part of the Thirteenth Tennessee Confederate regiment. He took with him the sword which had been presented to his gallant ancestor, by Gen. Greene, and at the battle of Belmont, November 7, 1861, while in command of his company, was killed, and his company cut to pieces, after refusing to surrender. The sword was lost and has never been found. The event was commemorated by a beautiful poem, written and pub- lished a short time after the battle, by Mrs. L. Virginia French, one of the sweetest songstresses the South has ever produced.

Hon. John Rhea, for whom Rhea county, Tennessee, was named, was a brother of the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. He was the first member of Congress from Tennessee, and represented the eastern district twenty two years. He was one of seven lawyers first licensed in Knox county, mention of which fact is made in Killebrew's work on Tennessee.

Dr. Abram Rhea, another of Mr. Long's uncles, raised a company which formed a part of the Thirteenth Tennessee, and refusing a commission, went in as a private. After the Belmont battle he was called from the ranks for duty as a surgeon, and aftewards became surgeon-general under Gen. Bragg, with the rank of brigadier, and was regarded as one of the best surgeons in the service. He is now living in Fayette county. Another uncle, Walter Rhea, commanded a company of partisan rangers in the late war. He was a prominent citizen of Fayette county, where he died in 1881.

Robert Rhea, unele of Mr. Long's mother, served through the war of 1812. He was captured at the battle of Quebec, escaped from prison, was recaptured in the woods of Maine, together with his brother, Joseph Rhea, and was chained upon his back in a prison ship for three months. After the war he went on board a Spanish privateer and served several years, Towards the close

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of the war between Spain and England, his ship was burnt off the coast of Virginia, and the crew swam a·hore. He then went to the valley of Virginia, where he remained several years, engaged in teaching school. He taught the famous Confederate General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson how to read, and was a great favor- ite with him. Though over seventy years of age, he served in a home guard company during the late war.

He died in Sullivan county in 1872, aged eighty-five years.

Mr. Long's maternal grandmother was Miss Mary Looney, eldest daughter of Col. Abram Looney, of Sul- livan county, and a sister of Col. R. F. Looney, of Memphis, and Col. Abram Looney, of Maury county. Her mother was a Miss Gammon, of a prominent East Tennessee family.

MAJ. A. J. MOWIIIRTER.

NASHVILLE.

W E doubt if there is a more genial, pleasant or popular gentleman in Tennessee than Maj. A. J. MeWhirter. Fully six feet in height, weighing one hundred and ninety pounds, of spendid physique, blue eyes, a large head with very high forehead, and face expressing a kind and benignant nature, with courtly, winning manners that invariably convert strangers into friends, this gentleman's history will prove interesting to many people.

He was born in Wilson county, Tennessee, June 15, 1828, of Scotch-Irish parentage, and spent the early years of his life on his father's farm, where he attended the school of his grandfather, George Me Whirter, who died in 1836, after which he attended Campbell's Acad- emy at Lebanon, until old enough to enter Cumberland University, where he remained for two and a half years, and only withdrew to accept the deputy county court elerkship under Josiah McClain, who was clerk of Wilson county for forty years. In 1847 the Hon. John Bell tendered him a cadetship at West Point, which he declined, preferring to enter commercial life, which he shortly afterwards did with the wholesale dry goods house of H. & B. Douglas at Nashville, Tennessee. So valuable did he become to this then famous firm, that on the first January, 1850, he was admitted into the concern as a junior partner, and continued with them in business, amassing considerable wealth, until 1856. Retiring from this firm, he formed a copartner ship with Col. Thomas L. Bransford and Russell M. Kinnaird, and opened a wholesale dry goods establish- ment. At the expiration of three years Maj. Me Whir- ter bought out the firm and ran the business on his own account until the civil war commenced. He was an ardent Whig and bitterly opposed secession, but when he saw the war was inevitable, raised a company of one hundred and six men, known as the Edgefield Rifles, which became company A, of the Eighteenth T'en nessee infantry, then commanded by Col. (now Gen.) J. B. Palmer. As captain of this company he was captured at Fort Donelson, and after being exchanged at Vicksburg, received orders to report at Richmond,

Virginia, whence he was assigned duty under Maj. J. F. Cummings, of the commissary department, and was sta- tioned in northern and western Georgia, and continued in that department with the rank of major, purchasing supplies for Bragg, Johnston and Hood until April 20th, 1865.

The war being over, Maj. Me Whirter went to New York and engaged in the brokerage and commission business, but returned to Nashville in 1867, and has made it his home ever since.

In 1867 he became connected with the wholesale clothing house of Bolivar H. Cooke & Co., and was re- cognized far and wide as the leading and most influen- tial salesman in the southern States, in appreciation of which fact this firm paid him for years a salary of seven thousand five hundred dollars per annum. In January, 1882, his friend, Gov. William B. Bate, appointed him commissioner of agriculture, statistics and mines, which position he is now filling with distinguished ability- indeed, at this writing (1885) it is almost impossible to pick up a Tennessee paper that does not contain com- plimentary notice of him. His speeches at various agricultural conventions in and out of his State, stamp him a man of broad and comprehensive intellect, breathing a spirit that is in unison with the rapid pro- gress of the times, While his memory is wonderful, his information is even more so. As a writer, he is flu- ent, forcible and pungent. As a worker, he is tireless. His policy as commissioner can be commended to the officials of other States, and if followed by them, will revolutionize many things South during the next few years. The organization of the Southern Immi- gration Association is alone due to his efforts, and as its first president he has given it an impetus that causes the entire South to manifest the livliest interest in its

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 38

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