Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 43

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

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Judge De Witt is truly a self-made man. By perse- verance and industry , he overcame all obstacles and obtained a classical education and finally became learned

in the law. In his career of life he was given to nos evil habits whatever. Truthfulness and integrity were the stars that guided bim. He resolved in carly man- hood to become at least the equal of any one in his; profession, if hard study, good morals, energy and dili- gence would accomplish it. He chose his profession early and bent every effort to succeed. In this time of thought and action he drew much inspiration and last, ing benefit from the teachings of his venerated father, and from the " Lectures of Rev. Dr. Hawes to Young Men."

One great fault of his life, however, growing out of kindly nature or his want of power to say " no, is that he has, from time to time, lost heavily by endorsing for others, though he is now, notwithstanding this, in very independent circumstances. As a lawyer, he stands in the front rank of his profession in the highest courts of the State and of the nation, before which he has been almost uniformdy successful, though he has never brought all his intellectual resources into full play, except upon occasions that demanded it. As a man he is upright and just in all his transactions, allowing nothing to come between him and the discharge of what he believes correct and honorable. The elements of his character are so fashioned as to imbue him with the strongest sympathies for the poor and the unfortun- ate through all the grades of society ; while his integ- rity and chivalry command the admiration of all who know him.

HON. THOMAS J. FREEMAN.

TRENTON.

JUDGE THOMAS J. FREEMAN is a native of J West Tennessee, having been born in Gibson county, on the 19th day of July, 1827. His parents were of the best class of Tennessee citizens.

Freeman is an English name, and the American fami- lies of the name are descendants from an English ancestry. The genealogy of this family, however, is not clearly traceable for more than three or four generations back. The grandfather of our subject, John H. Free- man, was a Virginia planter and slaveholder. The father, Dr. John HI. Freeman, was a native of Bruns- wiek, Virginia, and, about 1819, removed to Nashville, where he was engaged for a time in a mercantile estab- lishment. From Nashville, he went to Columbia and merchandised, marrying there in 1825. He died in Gibson county, in 1879, at the age of seventy-four. He was a man of strong and active intellect and nervous temperament, devoting himself the greater part of his life to his practice of medicine, without much thought of accumulating property.

Judge Freeman's mother, nee Priscilla Jones, was

bo rn in Smith county, Tennessee, but raised in Maury, where she married in May, 1825. She was the daugh- ter of Capt. Thomas Jones, originally from Wake county, North Carolina, a cousin of Hon. Nat. Macon, United States senator from North Carolina, at an early day. ' Her grandfather, Thomas Jones, was a captain in the Revolutionary war. She died in Gibson county, in 1857, leaving ten children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the oldest.

Judge Freeman received a common school education up to the age of fifteen. His early opportunities were limited to the country schools and the county academy. By the time he was seventeen, he had taken a course of medical reading, but he soou determined not to adopt that profession. In March, 1845, he began the private study of law in borrowed books, teaching neighborhood schools in the meantime, until he reached the age of twenty-one. At that period he obtained from Judges Turley, of the Supreme court, and Calvin Jones, chan- cellor of the district, a license to practice law. He at once opened an office in Trenton, where he practiced

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till 1861, when he moved to Haywood county. At the close of the war he moved back to Trenton and awaited future developments. In November, 1865, when the rourts were reopened, he removed to Brownsville and there resumed the practice of law. He continued to practice there and in the neighboring counties till the spring of 1870, when, by the Democratic State conven- tion, he was nominated, and by the people elected, to the Supreme bench of Tennessee, a position which he has now held fifteen years, having been renominated and re elected in 1878. His life thus divides itself'into two sections-that of lawyer and that of judge.

Judge Freeman grew up in a Whig family, and his first vote was cast for Gen. Taylor for president in la18, but, at the age of twenty-three, he allied himself with the Democratic party and has ever since been a strict construction Democrat of the Jeffersonian school. In 1855 he made the canvass for Congress against Emerson Etheridge, then regarded as invincible, and reduced his large majority to a very small one. He was a delegate to the Cincinnati national Democratic convention in 1856, that nominated James Buchanan for the presidency. He was ever a man of strong political feeling, but, since going on the bench, he has refrained from any participation in the political contests of the State or nation, beyond the exercise of the elective franchise and the frank expression of his opinion on all questions of public policy, at proper times and places.

Judge Freeman married at Trenton, July 28, 1852, Miss Martha Lois Rains, daughter of the leading law- yer at the Trenton bar, and his own legal preceptor, Rolla P. Rains, a native of Georgia, but who grew up at Winchester, Tennessee. Her mother, originally Elizabeth Evans, was a native of Huntsville, Alabama. Mrs. Freeman was educated at Trenton. She is yet a remarkably handsome, well preserved woman, and is famed for her excellent domestic qualities.

Judge Freeman and wife have had born to them five children, all at Trenton: (1). Willis J., born July, 1851; now deputy clerk of the Supreme court ; married Willie Mays, daughter of J. M. Mays, a banker at Columbia, Tennessee, and has one child, Irene. (2). Helen, gradu ated at the Methodist Female College, at Jackson ; mar ried W. L. Hall, of the Dallas (Texas) Herald, and has one child, Dudley Freeman. (3). Cora, graduated at Jackson ; wife of Mr. J. Dawson, and now residing at Kansas City, Missouri. (4). Thomas J., born No- vember 29, 1859; is a lawyer of the firm of Harris, Turley & Freeman, at Memphis. He married Miss Sal- lie Matthews, of Trenton, and has one child, Cora. (5). O. B. C., boru August 6, 1861 ; now a lawyer at Trenton.

Judge Freeman is a Royal Arch and Select Master Mason and a Knight of Honor. In religion he is a Baptist, and a distinct and affirmative believer in the Christian religion. He joined the Baptist church when but fifteen years of age.

In regard to the civil war, Judge Freeman was a pronounced southern man, and bad the courage of his convictions. He promptly enlisted in the Confederate service and, in August, 1861, was chosen colonel of the Twenty second regiment, Tennessee infantry. He com manded the regiment in the battles of Belmont and Shiloh, At a later battle he was severely wounded and disabled for a month, which was followed by an attack of camp fever, which kept him out of the service till the fall of 1862. when he was transferred to Gen. For rest and remained with him till the winter of 1864, on staff duty. At this junction, Judge Samuel Williams, of the Ninth judicial circuit, having died, Gov. Isham G. Harris commissioned Judge Freeman as judge of the circuit, but he never qualified. Under the commission he returned home, however. having been released and discharged on account of ill health.

Judge Freeman has been too close a student-too faithful a devotee to his profession -- to have given much of his time or thought to the matter of accumulating money. Nevertheless, notwithstanding he found him- self at the close of the war ten thousand dollars in debt, he is now in fairly independent circumstances.

In personal physique, Judge Freeman is tall, slender, lithe and sinewy ; his face, regularly featured, is intelli- gent and pleasing and surmounted by a high, intellectual forehead. His eyes are dark, of mild expression ordi- marily, but beaming with intellectual light on occasions of exciting interest. To persons not familiar with his capacity for long-sustained work, Judge Freeman's physical appearance is suggestive of a delicate constitu- tion, and even his best friends have sometimes feared that the sword of the spirit would cut through its fleshy scabbard. But an examination of the Supreme Court reports for the last fifteen years will demonstrate that Tennessee has had but few Supreme judges capable of as much judicial labor as Judge Freeman has perfomed within that time.

While Judge Freeman has always kept himself abreast with the learning of his profession, he has found time to sweep the fields of literature, ethies and philosophy, gleaning the richest treasures of thought and storing them in his well-ordered mind until it has been justly said of him that he is one of the most broadly-cultured men in the State of Tennessee. As in legal science, so in current literature, he never allows himself to drop behind the advanced thought of the times. He is an omniverous reader, devouring book after book, as they are cast from the press, with the avidity of a hungry man. And what is most notable in his case, the argu- ment, the thoughts and, oftentimes, the very language, are transferred from the pages of the book to his recep- tive mind and held distinctly there, in the keeping of a memory remarkable for the power and accuracy of its re- tentativeness. His brothers of the bar frequently speak of him as "the walking encyclopedia," or "the peripatetic . library." His social qualities are of the most pleasing 1

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order and are remarkably well developed. His conver- sational gifts are brilliant and charming. Especially is he fond of the society of the younger members of the bar, being ever ready to aid them with friendly sugges- tions and wholesome counsels.

As a lawyer, Judge Freeman was eminently success- ful in practice. He was critically careful in the prepa- ration of his cases, and was a skillful and eloquent advocate. But it was his mastery of technical pleading that gave him his first and best assurance of success. At the time he came to the bar, the loose methods of plead- ing, now in vogue under our simplified court procedure, were unknown, and would have seemed to court and bar ridiculously absurd. No man could then hope to successfully conduct a suit at law unless he were able to thread the labarynthine mazes of Stephens and Chitty. A recent writer in the Nashville American, speaking of Judge Freeman, relates an incident illustrative of the Judge's readiness and skill as a pleader : " Well do I remember," he says, " a sharp contest between this gen- tleman and the lamented Scurlock, in the court-room at Brownsville, Judge W. HI. Stephens presiding. It was a case of unusual importance. A demurrer was heard and disallowed; then came a plea and a replication ; now a rejoinder and surrejoinder; then a rebutter and surrebutter. No Damascus blades ever flashed more rapidly in the hands of skillful duellists than did these steel-bright weapons before an admiring court in the hands of those accomplished pleaders. I recall to-day the delight with which I witnessed the contest. Ac- cording to the rules of practice, either might have claimed indulgence and delay at any step of the pro- ceedings ; but, no, at each succeeding step, the plea was drawn without a moment's delay or reference to the books."

The well-earned reputation which Judge Freeman acquired at the bar, has been well-sustained on the Su- preme bench. His love of professional work seems to have grown upon him in his higher sphere of action, and the fruits of his judicial labors have proven that his associates at the bar had not overestimated his learn- ing or his discriminating powers of analysis; neither has there been any disappointment or betrayal of the

universal confidence, based upon an honorable profes- sional career, that he would acquit himself on the bench as an able and. upright judge. His decisions command the respect of bar and people. The criticism has been sometimes made by such as prefer the blunt, ponderous, pregnant phrases of a Wright or a Turney, or the sharp, clear and conclusive sentences of a Me- Farland, that Judge Freeman's opinions are usually too elaborate. But logical elaboration is preferable to in- sufficiency of argument and authority. One of the Judge's professional brethren, referring to this line of criticism on his opinions, very truly says : " But for- logical precision, chaste diction and strict adherence to the traditions of American law, as they have come down to us, filtered through the minds of Marshall, Story, Webster and Kent, his friends believe, with all due appreciation of the merits of his associates and con- temporaries at the bar, that he will bear comparison with the best andnoblest of Tennessee's judges." The works of no man are perfect. The highest excellencies in the best must make compensation for some minor defects, and it is a marked compliment to the superior ability and accomplishments of Judge Freeman that the merciless eye of criticism has detected no graver fault in his splendid work than the studious elaboration of argument by which he has taken care to sustain his decisions. His opinions, recorded in the annals of the Supreme court of Tennessee, will be his imperishable # monument, than which his ambition could demand nothing worthier or more honorable.

The influences of Judge Freeman's personal life have ? ever been on the side of morality and religion. As be- fore stated, he is a devoted member of the Baptist church, strongly attached to its doctrines, and a thor- ough believer in the divinity of Christ and his religion. He is fond of the Sunday-school and neglects no oppor- tunity for mingling with children and addressing them. He is also an ardent friend of the temperance cause. Though he has accumulated no great fortune in worldly goods, he is rich in the consciousness of a life well- spent, and, as has been well said, has achieved for his children the heritage of a " good name," which Solomon says, "is rather to be chosen than great riches."

HON. EDWARD H. EAST.

NASHVILLE.

T HE name of Edward Hazzard East, has, for years, been conspicuous on the roll of eminent lawyers in Tennessee. He was born in Davidson county, Octo- ber 1, 1830. His father, Edward Hyde East, emigrated from Virginia as early as 1806, and settling upon a farm in Davidson county, devoted himself to agricultural

pursuits. He was a man of strong mental characteris- ties and of much local influence. He was chosen jus- tice of the peace at an early day, and as far back as 1833, became chairman of the county court of David- son county, a position which he held for many years, With the first appearance of the Whig party in the

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Edward Ht Eensl

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political arena, he became a Whig and continued in that faith through life. He was one of sixty citizens of Davidson county who cast their vote for Hugh Law- wo White in 1836, against Andrew Jackson, for the presidency of the United States. He died at the ad- vanced age of fourscore years and upwards, leaving a handsome estate to his children.

The grandfather, Benjamin East, was a native of Eng- Land. Hle came to America and settled in Virginia while it was yet a colony. Ile served through the Revolution- ary war and lived to the ripe age of eighty-odd years.

Judge East's mother, Cecelia Buchanan, came of a family well known as among the earliest of pioncer set- ders in Tennessee. Her brothers were Capt. John K., Robert and Thomas Buchanan. She was a woman of quiet, unobtrusive disposition and liberally endowed with those domestic virtues which constitute the crown of the model wife and mother. She instilled into the minds of her children, from infancy, those principles of virtue that have so notably marked their lives. She died in 1870, at the age of eighty years, leaving four of her ten children surviving her, viz .: (1). Malvina, widow of John J. Gowen, who died in Mississippi, in 1812. (2). Louisa, wife of Alexander Buchanan, a farmer of Davidson county. (3). Edward Hazzard, the subject of this sketch. (4). Dr. A. A. East, a physician of Nashville.

The youth of Judge East was that of a farmer boy, though his advantages for early education were quite good and were by no means neglected. When about sixteen years of age, he entered the old Washington Institute in Davidson county, and was graduated in literature from that school in 1850. Having early re- solved to become a lawyer, he next entered the law de- partment of Lebanon University, from which institution he was graduated in 1854, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws in a class of eight, among whom were Dr. W. E. Ward (a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this vol- ume) ; Levi W. Reeves, of Louisiana ; Alfred Elliott, of Nevada ; Charles Ready, jr., and Richard A. Keeble, jr., of Murfreesborough. The two last named died dur- ing the late civil war. From the date of his graduation to the present time, he has practiced law in Nashville, with the exception of the interruptions caused by the war, and the period during which he occupied the bench as chancellor. During this period, he has held many positions of honor and trust. Indeed, there are few men of his age to be found anywhere upon whom have been bestowed so many marks of confidence and esteem by their fellow-citizens. He was for several years, presi- deut.of the board of directors of the Tennessee Hos pital for the Insane. He is one of the original mem - bers of the board of trust of Vanderbilt University, and, for a time, served as the first president of that board. He has been for many years a member of the board of trustees of the University of Nashville, which institution, in 1880, conferred on him the honorary de

gree of LL. D. He is now president of the board of trust of the Tennessee School for the Blind at Nash- ville, and has, from its establishment. been a member of the board of managers of the State Normal School, also located at Nashville. Besides these, from time to time, there have been many other like philanthropic po- sitions in the higher line of social duty, though less per- manent in character, that his fellow-citizens have called on him to fill, and he has always served with cheer- fulness, ability and fidelity.

Judge East has never been a politician in the com- mon partisan sense of the term, though there has never been a time since he attained his manhood, when he has not felt an intelligent and earnest interest in the policies of his State and nation. It may be said of him that he was born and bred a Whig, and when, amid the dark foreshadowings of gathering war, it became only too manifest that the" old Whig party was dead," there was no sadder mourner at its bier than Judge East. At the time his young mind was unfolding to a perception and conception of the polities of his country, the genius of Webster and the spirit of Clay, and, nearer home, the calmer statesmanship of Bell, were improving the mind of the nation. Such men charmed his youthful fancy and became his political exemplars. It was no wonder, then, that he looked with abhorrence upon every movement looking to a dissolution of the Union. South- ern by birth and southern in sympathy, he not only felt that the rights and safety of the southern people could only be preserved and protected " in the Union and under the constitution," but that, by the very nature of American citizenship, and in view of the untold disasters that must necessarily follow all attempts to dis- solve the government, it was a patriotic duty to main - tain the federal Union as the only hope of assured peace and of republican freedom on this continent. Thus impressed, he could not be false to his solemn convic- tions, despite the obloquy to which he was, for the time, subjected. He did not, nor could not, lift his hand against his southern brethren, neither could he be induced to deal a blow which his conscience forbade. In 1859, he was elected to represent Davidson county in the State Legislature. Our State and presidential elections were not then, as now, held simultaneously. The State election in 1859 took place in August, the legislators being chosen for two years, or until August, 1861, so that the members chosen in 1859 were in office at the time of Mr. Lincoln's election. This Legisla- ture-1859-60-was twice called together in extra ses- sion. Judge East had opposed every proposition looking to secession, but when, after President Lincoln's call for troops, he found he was no longer supported by a ma- jority of his constituents, he conscientiously handed back to them his trust and tendered to the governor his resignation as representative. He withdrew from public position and, as before intimated, took no active part in the war.

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Upon the occupation of Nashville and Middle Ten- nessee by the Federal army, in the spring of 1862, Judge East was induced to accept the position of secretary of State. By his conservative counsels and humane sug- gestions in this position, he was enabled to contribute much - more, indeed, than the public ever knew, toward a mitigation of the necessary severities of the situation. When Mr. Johnson became president, he invited Judge East to a position in the White House, but he declined to accept ; and, notwithstanding the president placed the Blue Book at his service to make choice of such office as be desired, he respectfully declined to accept any position that the president could give him. . On reaching home from Washington, he found that the president had sent his name to the senate and that he had been confirmed as United States district-attorney for the Middle district of Tennessee. Notwithstanding this was then a far more important office than now-in- volving as it did, many new and interesting questions growing out of the war-and was quite lucrative withal, he nevertheless declined it with thanks. Subsequently Judge East was twice elected chancellor. for Davidson county, but in 1874, he resigned that position and ac- cepted the one he now holds-that of counsel for the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis railway company. His character as chancellor will be treated further along.

In 1874, Judge East was induced to stand as a can- didate to represent. Davidson county in the Legislature of 1875, and was elected. He was made chairman of the committee of ways and means, the duties of which laborious position he performed with distinction. He was conspicuous during the session for his able and earnest championship of the honor and credit of the State, as against the arguments of those who denied the legal validity of the bonded debt of the State It was during this session of the Legislature that ex-President Johnson was elected to the United States senate after one of the most exciting contests ever witnessed in our State capitol. To this result the personal influence of Judge East largely contributed.

In 1878, Judge East was nominated for governor by a State convention of the Greenback party of Tennessee, but, although he was strenuously urged to make the race by influences more potential than the organization that nominated him, he could not be induced to take the field.

This completes the list of notable political points in the life of Judge East. Before touching upon his pro- fessional career, some points in his personal life may as well be recorded here. Judge East was married in 1868, to Mrs. Ida T. Ward, of Mississippi, daughter of Rev. Henry C. Horton, of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. They have two interesting daughters, Edine IL., and Bessie Cecelia and their family circle, though not a very extended one, is a very happy one. Judge East has demonstrated in his own career, that a professional business life and a religious life are not

incompatible, but, on the contrary, may be rendered beautifully harmonious, From an early period, he has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South-not simply a passive layman, making easy his church relations by periodical contributions to its treasury, but an active, zealous member, taking a lively interest in all the enterprises and institutions of the church. He has, for a number of years, been one of the stewards of MeRendree church, Nashville, and has served as lay delegate to annual confer- ences. He was a delegate from the general confer- ence of the Methodist. Episcopal church, South, to the Methodist Ecumenical Council, at London, in 1881. As already stated, he was one of the original members of the board of trust of Vanderbilt University. What- ever service the church may require at his hands, or a sense of duty may suggest, is rendered with genuine Christian zeal. He is esteemed by the authorities of the church, as one of the sincerest and wisest of their counsellors.

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 43

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