USA > Tennessee > Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee > Part 39
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Maj. Me Whirter as before stated, is descended from the Scotch-Irish stock so numerous in the Carolinas, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. His father, George F. Mc Whirter, was born in Davidson county, Tenes- see, in 1787, and was a farmer in Wilson and Davidson
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counties for more than eighty years. He was a soldier under Gen. Jackson during his Indian campaigns, par- ticipating in the battles of Talladega, Emuckfaw and the Horseshoe, and was a man of strong sense and thor- ough education. His grandfather, George Me Whirter, was born in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, in 1759, and was educated by the distinguished Hezekiah Balch, the author of the " Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence." After the death of Balch, George Me- Whirter married his widow, Mrs. Balch, who became the grandmother of the subject of this sketch. . He was the first man who taught the classics in Tennessee ; was a great student and one of the few thoroughly educated men in this section at that time. His pupils came from far and near, among whom were the Hons. John Bell, Bailie Peyton, JJames C. Jones, Jo. C. Guild, the Yer- gers and others of eminence. This grandfather changed the name of Mac W horter to Me Whirter. Mrs. Balch's maiden name was Mac .Candlis, of Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, and one of her ancestors was martyred on the coast of Scotland for espousing the Presbyterian faith.
Maj. Me Whirter's great-grandfather, William Mac- Whorter, a farmer and physician, was born in South Carolina. His father and mother came over from the north of Ireland in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Two of William Mac-Whorter's brothers con- tinued to live in Georgia and South Carolina, where
their descendants are now living, and have changed the spelling of the family name to Me Wherter and Mc- Whorter.
On the maternal side, our subject's mother was a Miss Blair. She was born in 1796, at Mul Herron Fort, about five miles from Nashville, and is now living. Her father, Samuel Blair, one of the first settlers in Ten- nessee, was born in Mecklenburg county, North Caro- lina, in 1769, participated in the defense of Buchanan's fort and the battle of Niekajack, and lived to the ripe age of ninety-six. His wife, Maj. Mc Whirter's mater- nal grandmother, was the daughter of Gen. Simpson, a celebrated Indian fighter. He was killed and scalped by the Indians in 1794, near a fort on what is now a part of the Vaulx estate, on the Franklin pike.
Maj. Me Whirter married, in 1853, Elizabeth Mar- shall Bransford, at Glasgow, Kentucky, daughter of Col. Thomas L. Bransford, who was then a wholesale mer- chant, at once in Louisville, Kentucky, Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee. Col. Bransford was a prominent and influential politician ; was the first president of the Nashville . and Danville railroad; often in the State Legislature, and at times a State elector. He was born and raised in Virginia. Col. Bransford's wife was Miss Settle. Her mother was Miss Pickett, of Virginia, who was closely related to the Picketts and Marshalls of that State.
Maj. Me Whirter has two sons, Louis and George.
HON. JOHN OVERTON, JR.
MEMPHIS.
T ITE history of the Overton family is intimately | connected with that of Tennessee. Hon. John Overton, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was one of the early Supreme judges of Tennessee, and a contemporary and warm personal friend of Andrew Jackson. He was the founder of the city of Memphis, and at one time owned the land upon which the city now stands, having purchased a tract of five hundred acres from Elijah Rice for the sum of five thousand dollars. At a subsequent period Andrew Jackson and Gen. James Winchester were associated with Judge Overton in the ownership of this tract. It was conveyed by them to a company, and the town of Memphis was planted.
Judge Overton was of Scotch-Irish descent, and came to Tennessee from Virginia about the time, or soon after, the foundation of Nashville. His son, Col. John Overton, of Nashville, is the father of Hon. John Overton, jr. Col. John Overton is one of the leading and one of the wealthiest citizens of the State. He is
an extensive real estate owner, was the founder and is still one of the owners of the Maxwell House, Nash- ville, and is also heavily interested in the city of Mem- phis.
Hon. JJohn Overton, jr.'s, mother was Miss Rachel Harding, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Harding, and a cousin of Gen. W. G. Harding, of Nashville, whose biography appears elsewhere in this volume.
Hon. John Overton, jr., was born in Davidson county, Tennessee, April 27, 1812, and grew up there on a farm, attending the common schools until his fifteenth year. Hle then went to school for two years to Profs. Frank and Charles Minor in Albemarle county, Virginia, in 1857-58. Returning to Tennessee in 1860, he entered the University of Nashville and there remained until April, 1861, when he left to enter the service of the Confederacy. He enlisted in the Tennessee State troops and became a member of the Forty-fourth Tennessee regiment of infantry, in the company of Capt. Reid. In 1862 he was transferred to the staff of Gen. Bushrod R.
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Johnson with the rank of captain, and served with him till Gen. Forrest was transferred to the Western Dis- triet, when he became a member of his staff, still with the rank of captain. He served with Gen. Forrest till the close of the war. He participated in all the battles of the army of Tennessee up to the time he became a member of Forrest's staff, including the battles of the Kentucky campaign, Murfreesborough and Chicka- manga. During the latter part of the war he took part in all the fights and raids of Forrest, including Fort Pillow, Tupelo, Nashville, and the battles of Hood's campaign in Tennessee, in 1861. He surrendered with Forrest at Gainesville, Alabama, May 13, 1865.
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In 1865 John Overton, jr., located at Memphis and en- ghged in the real estate and brokerage business, which he has followed up to this time. In 1882 he took as a partner Mr. Charles N. Grosvenor and formed the firm of Overton & Grosvenor, which now represents the largest real estate interests of any firm in Tennessee. They handle, rent and sell on an average two millions of dollars' worth of property annually.
John Overton, jr., has been prominently connected with all of the most important commercial and financial en- terprises of the city of Memphis for a number of years. He has been a director of the Bank of Commerce since its organization, and also of the Peoples Insurance Com- pany from its foundation to the present time. Ile is vice-president and director of the Planters Insurance Company ; president and director of the Vanderbilt Insurance Company, besides which he has been a di rector in numerous railroad companies, including the Mississippi River railroad, now the Chesapeake and Ohio; the Kansas City, Springfield and Memphis railroad, and others. His career as a business man has been one of uninterrupted success, and through the vicissitudes of food and pestilence he has main- tained his position as one of the substantial men of Memphis.
Hon. John Overton, jr., has always been a Democrat. In 1873 he was elected to the lower house of the Legisla- ture, receiving the unanimous vote of his county, a larger vote than has ever been cast for any other candidate in the county, In 1875 he was elected to the Senate over an opponent who received about one hundred and sixty votes out of sixteen thousand. After one term in the Senate he declined a re-election. While in the House he was chairman of the committee on commerce, and during his term in the Senate was chairman of the com- mittee on finance.
When the old city government of Memphis was abol- 23
ished by an act of the Legislature, under an act provid- ing for the appointment of two commissioners, one to be elected by the people, owing to his popularity with all classes he was compelled to become a candidate for membership on the board of fire and police commission- ers, was elected, and was a member of the same while the great sanitary and street improvements were carried out. After he had been a member of this board for two and a half' years, upon the resignation of Dr. Porter be was elected president of the taxing district and served until the expiration of the term of office, when he declined to be a candidate for re-election, although it was known he could have had the position without opposition. He has taken no part in politics except at the solicitation of his friends, and has never been a can- didate for an office to which he was not elected.
Hon. John Overton, jr., was married on October 23d, 1866, to Miss Matilda Watkins, of Davidson county, Tennessee, daughter of William and Jane Watkins, and grand-daughter of Col. Mark R. Cockrill, the well-known stock raiser of Middle Tennessee. Mrs. Overton was educated in Davidson county, Tennessee, and in Phila- delphia. She is a woman of strong and sterling traits of character, and one who never neglects her duty. She delights in the cultivation of flowers and the perform- ance of household and family duties. She is a member of the Presbyterian church.
Hon. John Overton, jr., began business after the war, barchanded. His father's property had been confiscated but he took charge of his business in the city of Mem- phis, and has been actively engaged for himself and for others ever since that time. He now possesses a com- fortable fortune. He has ever given close and energetic attention to his business. Whatever he had to do he has done thoroughly. He has always dealt on a cash basis, engaging in no reckless speculations, but going gradually up the hill. First-class credit, a protection of business character, and a thorough knowledge of his business in all its details, is the basis of his success.
Moreover, he has been an eminently publie-spirited citizen, and has always taken a lively interest in the prosperity of the city of Memphis, ever ready to do his duty in whatever promoted her welfare and advanced her lines along the way to prosperity and metropolitan- ism. A gentleman of Memphis who has had ample op- portunity to observe Hon. John Overton, jr., during the whole of his business career, says of him : The real se- cret of John Overton's success is his strict integrity, sober habits, close attention to his profession, rare good judg- ment, perseverance, and a strong and determined nature.
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HON. COLUMBUS MARCHBANKS.
SPAART.1.
T' IHIS gentlemani, so well known in Tennessee for his popular style of' oratory and eloquence on the stump, was born in Overton county, Tennessee, Sep- tember 28. 1843. He comes from excellent families on both sides. His father, Burton Marchbanks, was a farmer and tanner, a native of Overton county, born September 28, 1801, and died in 1861 on his homestead in Putnam county., He was a Baptist, and a Whig until the days of Knownothingism, but then became a Democrat, and remained one ever afterwards. He was a successful man, accumulated a fortune of about sev- enty-five thousand dollars, by his own exertions, and left a reputation for scrupulous honesty and faithfulness in his statements and actions.
Mr. Marchbanks' grandfather, William Marchbanks, was from South Carolina, and his people were Scotch. He was himself born in Scotland. William Marchbanks became a wealthy farmer in Overton county, was an old line Whig, and died at the age of seventy-five years. He married Jane Young, a sister of James Young, a man of considerable prominence in Jackson county, Tennessee. William Marchbanks and his wife were both members of the old Baptist church. They left a large family of sons and daughters, among whom was Judge Andrew J. Marchbanks, who, for a number of years, was judge of the circuit which included the county of Warren. It is said among lawyers that his decisions were reversed fewer times than those of any other circuit judge in the State.
Mr. Marchbanks' mother, nee Miss Julia F. Goodbar, of the only Goodbar family in the United States, is the daughter of Joseph Goodbar, a Virginian by birth. Joseph Goodbar settled in Overton county, Tennessee, about the year 1800, and spent his life as a farmer and trader. He was a Democrat of the Virginia type. He died a few years prior to the late war, leaving seven sons, Hilary, William P., James M., Joseph Lafayette, Andrew J., Jesse F., and Thomas Porter, and several daughters. Of these sons, Hilary Goodbar died soon after his marriage. W. P. Goodbar was the president of the Sparta branch of the Bank of Tennessee for many years. His son, James M. Goodbar, is now a prominent merchant at Memphis. The sons are all successful business men, well known in Arkansas, St. Louis and Memphis commercial circles. For a fuller account of the Goodbar family see sketch of James M. Goodbar, in this volume. Mr. Marchbanks' mother is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and is a sprightly, vivacious, intelligent lady of the old school. Her mother's maiden name was Masters. Mrs. Marchbanks is the mother of six children: (1). Co- lumbus, subject of this sketch. (2). Brice, who died in 1861, aged sixteen. (3). William, now a trader at
Sparta; married Miss Amanda Hunter. (4). Frank, now a farmer and machinist; married Miss Amanda Johnson. (5). Burton now a druggist at Sparta ; mar- ried Miss Margie Sanders. (6). Isabel, now wife of Dr. S. E. Snodgrass, brother of Judge D. L. Snodgrass of the Court of Referees. Dr. Snodgrass lives at West, MeLenan county, Texas.
Mr. Marchbanks was raised on his father's farut, and when a young man, worked five years in his father's tanyard. After the war he ran a tanyard in Putnam county on his own account, and says of this period of, his life, " I was a tanner, and a good one too, and could go back to the business if I had occasion or a mind to do so." His early education was obtained in the com- mon schools of his native county, after which he went to Burritt College in the years 1858-59, where he mas- tered the curriculum as far as the junior year.
When the war came up he went into the Confederate service as first lieutenant of company D, Eighth Ten- nessee infantry, Col. Alf. Fulton commanding. At the reorganization in 1862, he went into MeMillan's cavalry, originally raised by James W. MeHlenry, and which became a part of King's First Confederate cavalry reg- iment. Ilis service was chiefly on detached duty. He served in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina and Mississippi. . He was captured February 5, 1861, in Putnam county, was paroled and sent across the Cumberland river and there kept till the war ended, and was never exchanged.
The war over, he attended the law school at Lebanon two sessions, and was admitted to the bar in 1866, by Judges W. W. Goodpasture and Andrew McClain, began practice at Cookeville, Putnam county, and practiced there till 1870, when he quit law practice and went into mercantile life two years. Ile returned to the law in 1872, and removed to Sparta, where he has resided and practiced ever since, being most successful as a criminal lawyer, but preferring chancery practice, because it is smooth and quiet, as are his tastes. Mr. Marchbanks being a very stalwart man in his appear- ance and manner, and emphatic in his oratory, is at once over-awing and overpowering. This, in a measure; accounts for his fine success in criminal practice, and has brought to him a number of noted criminal cases.
Mr. Marchbanks has always been a Democrat, and is now a Prohibitionist also. In 1875-76 he was State senator for the counties of White, Putnam, Fentress, Morgan, Scott, Cumberland, Roane, Campbell and Over- ton. He is the author of the present law under which the State has a Bureau of Agriculture, Statistics and r Mines. In 1884 he was Democratie elector for the Third congressional district, and made a vigorous can- vass for Cleveland and Hendricks. Indeed. he made
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more reputation as an elector in that campaign than any speaker who has canvassed the district for years- many men following him from county to county to hear him speak.
In 1868 Mr. Marchbanks was made a Master Mason. He is also a Knight Templar of Baldwin Commandery No. 7, Lebanon, Tennessee. He has been Worshipful Master, Most Excellent Master and High Priest, and has filled nearly all the offices in the Blue Lodge, Council and Chapter. In 1874 he became an Odd-Fel- low, and has been Noble Grand, and also belongs to the Encampment. He is a Knight Templar, and also Worthy Chief Templar of Sparta Good Templar Lodge. He is an earnest advocate of temperance, and throws all his influence and talent into the cause of prohibition.
He was raised a Methodist, and is now a steward and trustee in the Methodist Episcopal church, South, at Sparta. For eight years he has been a Sunday-school superintendent, and it is said that his school is the best organized and best conducted about Sparta. He has been known to ride eighteen miles on Sunday morning to get to his Sunday-school. He is chairman of the Sunday-school Board of the Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, to which he was appointed in 1882. He has been twice a lay dele- gate to the Tennessee Conference-Lebanon in 1882, and Shelbyville in 1883.
Mr. Marchbanks married in Livingston, Overton county, Tennessee, February 5, 1863, Miss Linnie Hart, who was born August 28, 1844, daughter of John Hart, a merchant, now county court clerk of Overton county. Her mother, nee Miss Lucinda Cullom, is a sister of Judge Alvin Cullom and Gen. William Cullom, both of whom were members of Congress. (For a fuller account of the Cullom family see the sketch of Gen. William Cullom elsewhere in this volume.) Mrs. Marchbanks had two brothers, James and William (. Hart, both now deceased. Her sister, Elizabeth, is uow the widow of James Cash, of Livingston, and her sister Sue is now the wife of W. W. Harris, of Livingston. Mrs. Marchbanks was educated at Living-
ston, is a most elegant and beautiful lady, refined, in- telligent and remarkably modest; never has a harmful word to say of anybody; attends to her own family ; looks neat, and keeps her children neat and her house tidy; is an incessant reader, and is beloved far and near for her hospitality. Five children have been born of this marriage: (1). Florence, educated principally at the Cumberland Female College, MeMinnville ; married Mr. William Rhea, now in business at Sparta ; has one child, Mamie, (2). Minnie. (3). Alice. (4). Nellie. (5). John Burton, named for his two grand- fathers.
Mr. Marchbanks began life without money, but owned some wild lands, and is now comfortably well off. He has been engaged in several lines of business-always making a trade if he saw anything in it. His success comes of sobriety and honest dealing with everybody, especially since he became a member of the church in 1876. Prior to that time he made much but saved little. His success has been attained since he joined the church and became a Sunday-school worker. He wants no publicity, but desires to live a quiet life. He has been in military and civil public life, and as it has been no pleasure to him, he lately remarked, " I intend to buy me a farm and live retired with my family."
Gen. George Dibrell says of his neighbor and friend : " Marchbanks is a man of fine ability, a first-rate law- yer, one of the best political stump speakers in Tennes- see, a zealous member of the church, and a most efficient Sunday-school worker. He is also an enterprising man ; will risk anything he thinks will develop his section of country. He spends his money freely, has an interest- ing family, of whom he is very proud, does a great deal to help his younger brothers along, has been the main man in getting up the White County Agricultural Association, has been engaged largely in the lumber business and in developing the mineral resources of his county, and has made considerable money. He is de- voted to his friends, and sometimes makes enemies by speaking his sentiments too freely about everyboody and everything."
JOIIN PITMAN, M.D.
MEMPHIS.
D' R. JOHN PITMAN was born in Shenandoah county, Virginia, October 14, 1807. He was brought up on a farm, and was sent to an academy at Mossy Creek, in Augusta county, Virginia, to be pre- pared for the University of Virginia, which institution he entered in 1831, and there remained one year. He early made up his mind to study medicine, and in 1833 entered the medical department of the University of
Pennsylvania, from which institution he graduated in 1834, after which he began practice. in his native county, where he remained until 1836. He then moved to Alabama, and settled at Talladega. After remaining there about five years, he married, and moved to Holly Springs, Mississippi. He continued in the practice of his profession at that place until Is51, when he moved to Memphis, where he still resides, With unvarying
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fidelity and zeal he has made the practice of medicine his life work. Since going to Memphis he has never been out of harness, remaining at his post of duty all the time, and passing through all the epidemies -- five of yellow fever and several of cholera, notwithstanding he had the fever himself in 1873.
At one time, previous to the late war, he filled the chair of the practice of medicine in the medical college at Memphis for two years, occupying the position up to the time the college was dissolved.
Dr. Pitman became a Mason at Holly Springs, Miss- issippi, and took all the degrees of Ancient York Masonry there, and filled nearly all the offices in the lodge, but after going to Memphis did not connect him- self' with any lodge.
He was raised a Whig, and like most other Whigs, was opposed to secession, but when the war actually came on he sympathized with the South. Since the war he has voted the Democratic ticket, though not considering himself as belonging to that party. He has never held any political office, always refusing to become a candidate, though often solicited to run, At one time, while residing in Alabama, he was solicited to become a candidate for Congress, but deelined to do so, as he has all other political preferment.
Dr. Pitman's father was Lawrence Pitman, a farmer, of Shenandoah county, Virginia. He was a man of plain education, but was distinguished for his fine com- mon sense, and noted as one of the best farmers in his community. He died about 1860, at an advanced age.
Dr. Pitman's grandfather, a native of Saxony, came to America at an early day and settled in Virginia.
The late Philip Pitman, of Virginia, who was a mem- ber of the convention which framed the former consti- tution of his State, and also of that which framed the present constitution, was a brother of the subject of this sketch.
Dr. Pitman's mother was Miss Catherine Wills, of a family of German descent, who settled first in Pennsyl- vania, and moved thence to the valley of Virginia at an early day.
Dr. Pitman has been twice married. His first mar- riage took place in Alabama, in 1836, to Miss Mary Ragland, daughter of John Ragland, a native of Hali- fax county, Virginia, who moved from there to Georgia, and thence to Alabama, and finally, after the marriage
of Dr. Pitman, settled at Holly Springs, Mississippi. Mrs. Pitman's grandfather was Lipscomb Ragland, of Halifax county, Virginia, a merchant and a farmer, who was noted for his love of fine stock. By this marriage there were four children, three of whom died in in- fancy. The other, a son, Warren T. Pitman, entered the service of the Confederate States, and was killed at the sanguinary battle of Franklin, Tennessee, in 1861. Mrs. Pitman died in 1816.
In April, 1851, Dr. Pitman was married to his second wife, Mrs. Watkins, who was a Miss Martha Armistead Booth, a daughter of William Booth, of Virginia, a wealthy farmer. This was the same Watkins family to which Benjamin Lee Watkins belonged. Mr. William Booth's wife was a daughter of Col. Green, of Virginia, and the mother of Mrs. Dr. John Pitman, of Mem -- phis, Tennessee. Mrs. Booth was the only daughter of Col. Green by his second wife, whose maiden name was Armistead. Mrs. Booth was the niece of the Amblers, Pendletons, Allens, Pegrams, Seldons, Carys; and re- lated to a number of distinguished " Old Dominion " families.
Dr. Pitman was raised a Presbyterian, but has been a Methodist for many years. His wife is also a member of that church.
In early life Dr. Pitman was a close and hard student, and it was his love and desire for study that led him to choose the noble profession of medicine. He has fol- lowed its requirements with commendable fidelity, and kept fully abreast of the progress made in this branch of science. His life has been one of constant labor and conscientious discharge of duty towards his patients,' Inspired by a love of humanity and a desire to amelior- ate the condition of the suffering and the afflicted, he has attended to the calls of the rich and poor alike- thus illustrating the nobility of " Tillan the merciful "- for when the angel of afffiction knocked at some suffer- er's door, the first to hear and the second to call was "Tillan the merciful." In his profession he has always been successful, and has all the time had a large prac- tice. In the city of Memphis alone, he has received more than one hundred thousand dollars in fees, though much of the fortune he has made has been lost by sympathising too closely with friends, and by endorsing for those who failed to meet their obligations with him.
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