Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 44

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 44

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In personal physique, Judge East is of tall, slender figure, and has something of the "lean and hungry" Cassius-like appearance that would indicate a man who does not " sleep o'nights." His face is of the classical type, with an aspect of strong intellectuality and deep thoughtfulness, not "sicklied o'er," indeed, but strikingly suggestive of the constant working of the brain within. His conversational gifts are charming, which his explorations into every field of literature, and his critical observations of every type of humanity and civilization, keep continually supplied with richest ma- terial upon which to exercise themselves. Outside of the home circle, he enjoys no greater delight than wheu finding himself' in the midst of a genial and responsive company of friends. He is excessively fond of literary and scientific studies. While he has neglected no branch of the law in the range of his conscientious study, neither has he slighted any opportunity for test- ing the merits of a new author, or of investigating any novel philosophical problem.

But after all, it is as a lawyer and jurist that he is best known. In the chosen profession of his life, he has best laid the foundations of a great character, to which other personal accomplishments are but ornaments. The way to , eminence at the Nashville bar has never been an easy one. Only that merit which has been tried and proven through a long, hard series of labo- rious years, in daily competition with the best products of the profession, who, themselves, have ouly developed through the like long, hard series of laborious years, has ever been permitted to stand pre-eminent at the bar of the capital city of Tennessee. There is no royal road to success for a Nashville lawyer, and that any one has attained. it, strictly within the line of his profession, is pretty good evidence that he has deserved it. That Judge East has already justis achieved the reputation of a great lawyer is the unanimous verdict of his pro-

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fesional brethren of Nashville and throughout the State. To offer proof's on that point, by way of reciting the various notable triumphs he has enjoyed, would not del; be superfluous, but would extend this sketch far Beyond allowable limits.

A lawyer is best known to his professional associates, and it must be said to the honor of the legal profession that, while it is subject to the jealousies and envies that afliet humanity in all its branches, there is among the better class of the profession an esprit du corps, under the influence of which the true lawyer takes pleasure in bearing testimony to the worth of an honorable as- weiate. Judge East could well afford to commit his reputation, both as a man and lawyer, to the members of the bar among whom, for the last thirty years, he has spent his professional life. Nor can the writer of this sketch do Judge East, or the truth, a better ser- vice than to let a few of the lawyers speak for him. One who often crosses swords with Judge East at the bar, and who, himself, has always wielded a Damaseus blade-who, besides, is a critic among critics -- thus »peaks of Judge East : " As an advocate. he has few pers if any in the State of Tennessee. He is a lawyer of extensive and varied attainments, and is equally suc- cessful in all the departments of his profession ; whether it be in the Supreme, the circuit, the chancery or the criminal court.

"I know no lawyer of as great versatility, nor of as great success; he seems to combine all the elements that are necessary for a successful lawyer and advocate. Besides this, he is a man of extensive literary and sei- entific culture, and one of the finest conversationalists I ever knew. In this respect, he is absolutely fascinat- ing, and he can be interesting and entertaining alike to infancy and to old age, to the most ignorant and the most intelligent, to white and black ; for he can take the most ignorant negro that ever lived in the South and can charm and fascinate him, and will take pleasure in doing so; and, in a minute, will be eminently inter- esting and entertaining in the most refined, elegant lit- erary and scientific circle. The very expression of his face is a pendulum between a smile and a frown; the frown impressing soleinnity, and the smile illuminating pleasantry. He is gentle, amiable and tender ; and yet possesses, and can exercise, the most caustie satire and the most withering sarcasm.

"Ile has the singular faculty of drawing to himself personal friends, despite political and party ties. He was elected chancellor by the votes of both parties. In a heated contest, in which all parties were anxious for the control of the Legislature, he distanced all his com petitors, without a pledge to any line of policy or an enunciation of an opinion on any question involved in the canvass; and in the House of Representatives was the efficient controlling cause of the re-election of An- drew Johnson to the senate of the United States. No man could have been a more successful politician, but

politics, as far as office is concerned, seemed to have no attraction for him, Even as chancellor, a non-political office, he grew weary of it and resigned.

" He is'a firm believer in the Christian religion, a devont Methodist, and has delivered lectures on historie characters of the Bible which have excited warm ad- miration, and clearly disclosed an ability which would have elevated him to the utmost prominence as a pul- pit orator." " I regard his success as being the result of his native ability, bis industry, and his warm, genial, kind and noble heart, and an eloquence that is peculiar to himself, and that shines alike in the social circle, on the rostrum, and in the forum. In a word, I think he has more genius than any man I am acquainted with in Tennessee."

The chancellor who succeeded him on the bench, says of Judge East: " He is a first-class lawyer, both in point of learning and ability. As a practitioner, he comes as near being the best dawyer in the State as any man in it. His success is the result of his ability, learning and attention to his business He is a clever, amiable, agreeable man, and universally popular among all classes, as much so as any man I know. His popu- larity results from his kind and affable manner, being accommodating and generous to a degree that amounts to self- sacrifice."

An ex-senator of the United States, himself a pro- found jurist, who had often met Judge East at the bar, offers this pronounced and characteristic opinion :

" Lawyers who have tested the strength of Judge East at the bar, apologize for their defects by speaking of him as the 'great white-washer :' by which they mean that he is a man who can paint every picture in the brightest colors, bring out the strongest points of a case in the best light, and make the worst cause appear to best advantage. He is wonderfully powerful in advo- cacy. His ingenuity is most remarkable in reducing his opponent's position to an absurdity. Though he has an office, he can be found anywhere else with as much certainty as there; for, like Socrates, the philos- opher, he spends his time in the streets, mingling with men engaged in the rough roll and tumble of business, in which common sense and the dominant traits of' hu- man character have fullest play, and it is doubtless to this fact that he owes much of his power as a lawyer. In this respect, , he resembles the late Judge Archibald Wright, of Memphis, who seemed never to study, but was in fact a most diligent student, not of books merely, but of men and business."

A distinguished member of the Supreme court of Tennessee bears this honorable testimony : "Some lawyers excel in chancery suits, some in land litigation, some as advocates, but the best general lawyer in the State --- excelling in all departments- is Judge East."

A mere biographer can add nothing to such testi- mony as all this. There is nothing that needs to be added except a brief reference to his character as

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chancellor. It could hardly have been otherwise than that a lawyer possessed of the gifts and legal accom- plishments above set forth, based upon a moral char- acter that was unassailable, and in which a sense of jus- tice was a cardinal element, should have been an able and upright dispenser of equity from the bench. Gifted with the most subtle powers of analysis, his mind, rap- idly and with intuitive accuracy, separated the chaff from the substance and discriminated between the false and the true, The ingenious sophistries of counsellors could not mislead him, nor could extraneous considera- tions sway him a hair's breadth from the line of duty. The rich litigant and the poor one met "on the level" in his court, and his decrees were accepted as the con- clusions of a head and heart, well educated and thor- oughly honest. The reversals of his decrees were very rare, and, indeed, except for the purpose of gaining time, not many appeals were taken. There was in Judge East a pleasant freedom from the strained dignity too common to the judicial position, that rendered him, at all times and at all places, easy of access by the legal fra- ternity. It has been said of him that in light or per- functory matters, he would "sit at chambers" in a

barber shop, a counting-room, or even on a street corner, whenever the inconvenience of repairing to the court- room or his office seemed rather greater than the im- portance of the matter involved. In short, he had not a particle of the vanity or affected dignity of office .. His bearing on the bench or off the bench, towards the profession, was always marked by courtesy, affability and patience. His retirement from the chancellorship was a source of unusual regret.

Judge East is yet comparatively young -- just of the age at which English lawyers reach their prime, and English statesmen come to be regarded as fit to deal with the graver matters of state. Though by no means physically robust in appearance, his composition is of that tough and sinewy sort whose capacity for endu- rance is unmeasured. According to the probabilities. of vital statistics, he has yet many years of good life ahead of him. He has prospered financially, and taken bond against the too frequent calamities of old age. His possibilities are yet great, and his capabilities are sufficient to convert them into probabilities and these last into realizations. He is yet one of the live, pro- gressive men of Tennessee.

HON. ROBERT J. MORGAN.

MEMPHIS.

T' IE paternal ancestry of Judge Robert J. Morgan is of English origin. Three Morgan brothers emigrated from England to America in colonial days, and settled, one in Connecticut, one in Pennsylvania, and the third, from whom Judge Morgan descended, in Virginia. Gov. Morgan of New York, descended from the Connecticut branch of the family, and Gen. Daniel Morgan, of Revolutionary fame, from the Vir- ginia branch. The Morgans of Virginia became con- nected with the Barbours, a family well and widely known in that State.

Judge Morgan's grandfather, John E. Morgan, was a Virginian by birth, and lived and died in that State. Other members of the family removed to Kentucky and Tennessee, in both of which States there are now a large number of living representatives of the name. Judge Morgan's father was also named John E. Morgan. Hle was a wealthy merchant and banker at LaGrange, Georgia, and also a successful planter. Ile was a prom- inent member of the Methodist church for fifty years, and was noted for his fine business capacity and the highest integrity of character. During the late war, he was appointed by President Davis commissioner of the Confederate government for the State of Georgia. He died in 1868, aged seventy years.

Judge Morgan's mother was Miss Mary T. Brown,

daughter of Jere Brown, a native of North Carolina, who moved to Georgia. Her mother was a Miss Beas- ley, of a. well known Georgia family. Mrs. Morgan was reared by her uncle, Hon. Jarrel Beasley, a man of some distinction as a member of the Georgia Legis- lature.

Judge Robert J. Morgan was born in LaGrange, Georgia, March 25, 1826. He was educated at the University of Georgia, and graduated there in 1847. Having previously determined to study law, he entered the office of Bull & Ferrell, at LaGrange; was ad- mitted to the bar in 1849 by Judge Edward Young Hill, and taken as a partner by his preceptors. Shortly afterwards, Judge Bull went upon the bench, and the firm became Ferrell & Morgan, continuing as such un- til 1859, when Morgan removed to Memphis with a view of practicing law and engaging in planting in the rich Mississippi bottoms. He was at that time in afflu- ent circumstances, having been very successful in his profession as well as inheriting a comfortable estate. Opening an office in Memphis, he remained there until the beginning of the war.

In 1861, he raised and organized at Chattanooga, the Thirty-sixth Tennessee Confederate regiment of infan- try, and being made colonel, held the command for two years, when the regiment was consolidated and he was

12 6. Morgan

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assigned to duty on the staff of Lieut .- Gen. Leonidas Polk, as adjutant-general, and had to deal with the or- ganization and supervision of Gen. Polk's courts mar- tial while he commanded a corps, and afterwards when he commanded a department. He remained with Gen. Polk until the death of the latter, after which he was assigned by the Confederate war department to the ad- justment of claims against the government in Georgia, and served in that capacity till the surrender, when he received his parole at Atlanta. Col. Morgan saw ser- vice in the Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia cam- paigns, being stationed at Cumberland Gap during the early part of the war, and afterwards participating in the battles of Murfreesborough and Chickamauga, after which he was transferred to the western department with Gen. Polk.

After the surrender, he returned to Memphis and resumed the practice of law. In 1867, he was elected city attorney, and filled the office three years. During all this time he was not allowed to vote, but held the position without taking any other oath than the ordi- nary oath of office.

In November, 1869, without hats previous knowledge, Gov. Senter sent him a commission as chancellor, to till the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Hon. W'm. M. Smith, and at the earnest solicitation of the bar of Memphis, he accepted it. An election was or- dered in January, 1870, to fill the vacancy, and Judge Morgan was elected over his opponent, Judge John P. Caruthers. This office he filled until the constitutional convention of 1870 declared all the offices of the State vacant. He was a candidate for re-election under the new constitution, and was elected over Col. T. S. Ayres, and held the office until September, 1878. He received three commissions as chancellor within six months- once appointed by the governor, twice elected by the people. Judge Morgan occupied the bench as chan- cellor of the chancery court of Shelby county for about ten years, first under executive appointment, and then by popular election. In 1878, he voluntarily re- tired from the bench and resumed the practice of his profession at Memphis. His administration, of the judicial office was eminently satisfactory to the bar and to the people, and reflects honor upon his name. He exhibited rare qualifications for an equity judge; for; added to his culture as a lawyer, and his experience at the bar, his natural gifts of fine common sense, dis- eriminating judgment, and a quick appreciation of the right, fitted him peculiarly to administer the system of equity jurisprudence. These qualities served to enable him to reject sophisms and the mere technicalities of the law, and to reach almost unerringly the merit and justice of the cases brought before him; and it may be safely affirmed that no inferior judge in Tennes- we ever had fewer of his decisions reversed by the appellate courts. During the period of his ineum- bency of this office, the business of his court was im

mense, yet by unceasing labor he dispatched it without showing signs of physical or mental exhaustion, which too often begets in judges irritability of temper and a tyrannical bearing towards the members of the bar. While he was impartial and unflinching as a judge, he was uniformly kind and courteous, alike to the older and more eminent and to the younger and more obscure members of the bar, so that he won the respect and confidence of all. During a decade of laborious ser- vice, and while constantly passing upon the novel and difficult legal questions that were then before the courts, frequently involving very large interests, he so con- ducted himself, and so administered the delicate trusts committed to him, that he voluntarily laid aside the ermine unstained by the slightest breath of suspicion that in any instance he was controlled by unworthy influences or motives. After quitting the bench he re- sumed his practice, which he still continues.

Judge Morgan belonged to the old line Whig party, and was opposed to secession, believing that the southern States had not sufficient grounds for such action. In February, 1861, he voted against calling a convention looking to the withdrawal of Tennessee from the Union, but after the Atlantic and Gulf States seceded, he voted, in June, 1861, for Tennessee to unite. with her sister States. When he returned to Tennessee after the war, he joined the Democratic party, and has been one of its ardent supporters ever since. In 1880, he was elector for the Tenth Congressional district on the Hancock ticket, canvassed his district, aud also made speeches in other parts of the State.

Judge Morgan has been twice married, first in Jan- uary, 1851, at LaGrange, Georgia, to Miss Mary HI. Bat- tle, daughter of Dr. Andrews Battle. She died in less than one year after her marriage.

In September, 1854, he was married, at Milledgeville, Georgia, to Miss Martha F. Fort, daughter of Dr. Tom- linson Fort, an eminent physician, who wrote a work on the practice of medicine, which has become very popular in Georgia and the southwest. Dr. Fort served several terms in both branches of the Georgia Leg- islature; was a member of Congress from that State, innl was also president of the Georgia State Bank for several years. During all this time he did a large and lucrative practice. He was one of the projectors of the railroad from Atlanta to Chattanooga, and when Chattanooga was a mere landing on the Tennessee river, he made extensive purchases there, having faith in Chattanooga's future, and that it would some day be- come an important point. He died at Milledgeville, in 1859, at the age of seventy-two. The family was from North Carolina. but removed to Georgia before the Revolution.

Mrs. Morgan's mother, was Miss Martha Fannin, of a prominent Georgia family and a cousin of the cele- brated Col. Fannin, who was massacred at the Alamo with Davy Crockett. She was gifted with strong poll.

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ers of mind, judgment and will, and her impress upon her family has been beneficial and lasting. She died at Macon, Georgia, in 1883, in the eightieth year of her age. Mrs. Morgan was educated at Milledgeville, Geor- gia, and is distinguished for her gifts in conversation and writing, for her clear conception of every question that is presented, and the vigor of her elucidation. Few ladies in Tennessee have better claims to be called intellectual, while her cultured mind is scarcely sur- passed anywhere. By this marriage, Judge Morgan has two children: (1). Mary L. Morgan, born in 1856, now the wife of Mr. John A. Keightly, formerly of Louisville, Kentucky, now of Leesburg, Florida. (2). John E. Morgan, born February 5, 1861 ; now in bus- iness with Orgill Brothers, Memphis.

Judge Morgan's family on both sides have been Meth-

odists for several generations, and he and his wife are both members of that church. He was made a Master Mason at LaGrange, Georgia, where he also took all the Chapter degrees.

By his personal appearance, Judge Morgan would attract attention in any assemblage. He is a man of fine, portly physique; broad shouldered, and with a well balanced head that at once declares him a man of big brain. "As a speaker, he has few equals in the South. His voice is deep, rich, sonorous-of great compass and power. Both at the bar and on the stump, he is a quick, ready, weighty debater. He has always done a large and lucrative practice, and when he brings his strong will power and determination in full play, his client can almost certainly count on a verdict in his favor.

HON. WILLIAM GIBBS MCADOO.

KNOXVILLE.

H ON. WILLIAM GIBBS MeADOO, was born at Island Ford, nine miles northeast from ('lin- ton, Tennessee, April 4, 1820. His ancestor, John MeAdoo, came from the old world about the be- winning of the eighteenth century, landing at Nor- fork, Virginia. The grandfather of the subject of this sketch, John Me Adoo, was born in the valley of Vir- ginia, February 6, 1757; came to East Tennessee in its early settlement, and was with Sevier at the battle of King's mountain. He was also a follower of Sevier through many a bloody fight with the Indians, and was a participant in the rencontre between the forces of Tip- ton and Sevier in March, 1788, resulting in the downfall of the " State of Franklin." His home in the latter part of his life was at the mouth of Hynds' creek, two miles east from Clinton, Tennessee, where he was the owner and cultivator of valuable lands, and where he died, December 26, 1830. He was married to Martha Grills, September 4, 1787, by whom he had two sons, William, born May 28, 1788, and John, born June 21, 1790. Here his wife died January 8, 1838, and they are buried to- gether in the family burial ground near by.

John McAdoo, the father of William Gibbs MeAdoo, together with his brother, responded to the first call for volunteers occasioned by the outbreak of the hostile Creek Indians in 1813, and participated in the bloody conflicts through which Gen. Andrew Jackson broke the power of the Creek nation forever. Soon after his return, he again enlisted, was made lieutenant, and again, under the leadership of his gallant commander, remained in service until the close of the war by the glorious victory of New Orleans, on January 8, 1815. In August, 1815, he married Miss Mary Ann Gibbs,

daughter of John and Anne Gibbs, nee Anne Howard, of Anderson county. Hon. William Morrow, of Nash- ville, formerly treasurer of Tennessee, is a grandson of John and Mary MeAdoo, being the only son of Mrs. Emma Morrow (the oldest sister of W. G. McAdoo), and her husband, Robert Morrow.

The Gibbs family deserves mention. Nicholas Gibbs was a native of Baden-Baden, Germany, but was descended, on his father's side, from an English family of Norman-French extraction, which had its represen- tative with the Conqueror at Hastings; and a devoted follower of Charles the First, a member of this family, on the triumph of Cromwell, sought refuge in Ger- many. There Nicholas Gibbs was born about the year 1735. Joining a recruiting regiment, he came to Amer- ica in the French service; in 1758, shared in the glory won by the gallant Montcalm in the repulse of the Brit- ish at Ticonderoga, and coming to the United States, took part once more against the British. He moved to Knox county in the earliest settlement of that region, and left a large family of sons and several daughters. One of these sons, Capt. Nicholas Gibbs, fell at the head of his company in the battle at Tohopeka; and others were in the same war. One of his sons, George W. Gibbs, was, for a long time, a prominent citizen, lawyer and banker at Nashville; and one of the sons of the latter, Hon. C. N. Gibbs, was recently secretary of the State of Tennessee. Nicholas Gibbs died in 1819, and lies buried at his old homestead, in Grassy valley, Knox county. His son, John Gibbs, born, 1769, died, 1810, took part in many of the early struggles with the Indians ; was a leading land owner and slaveholder in Anderson county, and was an honored county officer.

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Hle left one son, William Howard Gibbs, and several | daughters besides Mary Ann Gibbs, already mentioned, the wife of John McAdoo, and mother of W. G. MrAdoo.

Hon. William Gibbs MeAdoo, spent his youth on his father's plantation at Island Ford, and at the neigh- boring county schools, learned to read, and evinced that fondness for books which has been a leading character- istic of his life. His father removed to Knoxville in 1-28, and resided there two years to afford his children better facilities to acquire education. Here he made rapid progress in English, and began the study of Latin ander Rev. Isaac Lewis. The Union Academy being established at Clinton, his father purchased a farm near that village, and for several years young McAdoo pur- sed his studies under the teaching of the distinguished Dr. G. W. Stewart, of Midway, Mississippi. In 1835, he entered Rittenhouse Academy, in Kingston, where he made progress in his English, Latin and Greek studies. In 1838, then but eighteen years of age, he was appointed principal of Union Academy, at Clinton, a high compliment to one so young. There he taught two years. In 1840, he was made principal of Franklin Academy, at Jacksborough. After teaching there a year, he was induced to return to Union Academy, where he taught in 1841 and in the earlier half of 1812. In the autumn of this year, he entered the University of Tennessee, at Knoxville (then East Tennessee Uni- versity), where he took a regular classical and scientific course, graduating in August, 1815. Among his fellow students were Hon. J. B. Cooke, now one of the judges of the Supreme court of Tennessee; Hon. W. C. Whit- thorne, ex-member of Congress ; Hon. J. D. C. Atkins, United States commissioner of Indian affairs; the late Prof. R. L. Kirkpatrick, of the University of Tennes- see, and the late J. C. Ramsey, United States district attorney. On the day following his graduation, Mr. MeAdoo was elected to the Legislature to represent the counties of Campbell and Anderson. He was a member of the old Whig party-a party then having a decided Democratic majority against it in the Legisla- ture. In this period, he was one of a committee sent to Memphis at the time of the meeting of the great in- ternal improvement convention of 1815, over which Hon. John C. Calhoun presided, and where he uttered his famous doctrine in relation to the duty and the power of the general government to make internal im- provements, wherein he spoke of the Mississippi river as " a great inland sea."

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 44

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