Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 47

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 47

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William D. Haynes, subject of this sketch, was born in MeMin county, Tennessee, November 15, 1833. His father dying when he was two years old, his mother re- turned with her four children to Carter county, and

there he lived with his grandfather, Michael Hyder, till 1814, going to school, going to mill, tending stock, making sugar, grinding apples to make apple brandy- in short, a farmer's boy of all work. In the meantime, "' his mother having married John Hill in Carter county, and moved back to the homestead in MeMinn county, ten miles west of Athens, on Rogers' creek, in 1844, William went to MeMinn county and worked on his mother's farm the following five years. The best part of his early life was spent in this way. His step-father, John Hill, was an industrious, thrifty man, without education, who kept him at hard work, and frequently against his inclination. Young Haynes had an ambi- tion to educate himself. His step-father tried to per- suade him to remain on the farm, but William ran away to Georgia and worked with the Irish laborers near Tunnel Hill, in getting out string timber for the Western and Atlantic railroad, then in course of con- struction. At this employment he received eiglit dol- lars a month for four months, but he had resolved to accumulate money with which to educate himself, and already determined to become a lawyer. He then came to Bradley county, Tennessee, and worked several months as a common laborer at ten dollars per month, in helping to grade the East Tennessee and Georgia railroad. In 1850 he entered Hiawassee College in Monroe county, Tennessee, and remained there till June, 1853, when he began teaching his first school, ten months term, being on Chatata creek, five miles from Charleston, in Bradley county. . In 1851 he taught on Chickamauga crock, in Hamilton county, at forty dol- lars a month. In 1855 he joined the " copper craze" at Ducktown, Tennessee, but after operating there six months was unsuccessful in his speculations, the com- pany spending fifteen thousand dollars, "all for noth- ing." Undaunted, however, he still persisted in his determination to become a lawyer. So, after selling his interest in the farm in MeMinn county for the purpose of educating himself, and being still three hundred dol- lars in debt for his college expenses, he commenced reading law in March. 1856, with his cousin, Hon. Lan- don (. Haynes, at " the old Tipton place," eight miles east of Jonesborough, and after reading with him two years, and in the meantime acting as private family tutor, preparing his cousin's sons for college, he obtained

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license to practice in 1858, from Chancellor Seth J. W. ' Luckey and Judge D. T. Patterson, When he at last obtained possession of his much coveted law license, he wrote on it " Vil Desperandum," a fitting motto, and one, too, which has guided him in his manly struggles all through life. He at once located at Blountville, May, 1859, and has successfully practiced there ever since, except during the war.

In May, 1862, he was commissioned a captain in the quartermaster's department of the Confederate army, and assigned to post duty at Knoxville, Morristown, Jonesborough, and other places; in 1863 was assigned to duty as brigade quartermaster on the staff of Gen. William E. Jones, and served in East Tennessee and southwestern Virginia from the summer of 1863 to the spring of 1864, when he was transferred to the army of northern Virginia ; assigned to duty as quartermaster of the Sixteenth Virginia cavalry, Col. Ferguson, and part of the time, in 1864, as brigade quartermaster with Gen. MeC'ausland's cavalry brigade, and as such was in the last raid made into Pennsylvania in 1864, when Me- C'ausland was ordered to burn the town of Chambers- burg. In December, 1861, he came home on furlough, and was captured by Gen. Stoneman on his Salt Works raid near Bristol, December 14, 1864. He was then sent as a prisoner, cio Nashville, Cleveland, Ohio, Buf- falo, New York, and Philadelphia, to Fort Delaware, where he was kept in confinement, till June 17, 1865.

In July, 1865, he resumed his law practice at Blount- ville, and has continued there, practicing in that and the adjoining counties, and in the Supreme court. In 1870 he was nominated on the Democratic judicial ticket for attorney-general, with Hon. Robert MeFarland (after- wards Supreme judge) for chancellor, and Hon. Felix A. Reeve for circuit judge, but was defeated by Hou. Newton Hacker, who obtained two hundred and fifty- six majority, the usual Republican majority being about two thousand,

Capt. Haynes was chairman of the Democratic execu- tive committee of the First congressional district from 1876 to 1882; has attended about all the State conven- tions of his party, and generally taken an active and more or less conspicuous part in the proceedings. Hle was originally a Whig, voted for Belland Everett in 1860, He became a Mason in 1868, in Whiteside Lodge, No: 13, Blountville; has taken the Chapter degrees and served as Master of his lodge sixteen years, from 1869 to 1884, inclusive. Hle is a Southern Methodist, and has been for ten years a Sunday-school superinten- dent.

Capt. Haynes married first in Carter county, Tonnes- see, his first cousin, Miss Margaret Haynes, youngest sister of Hon. Landon C. Haynes, daughter of David Haynes, a plain, unlettered farmer, trader and iron- master, who was at one time a man of considerable wealth, Her grandfather, George Haynes (also the grandfather of Capt. W. D. Haynes), left nine sons and

three daughters. The sons were David, James, John, George. Joseph, Jonathan, William, Christopher and Aaron. Of these David Haynes married Rhoda Taylor, a first cousin of Nat. M. Taylor's father, Andrew Tay- Jor, who was a brother of Gen. Taylor. . ( For a history of the Taylor family, see sketch of N. M. Taylor, else- where in this volume). David Haynes had seven sons and five daughters. The sons were Landon C., George, Matthew T., David, James, Napoleon and Nat. T., and the daughters were Lavinia, wife of George F. Gam- mon; Mary T., wife of Lawson Gifford; Edna, wife of Alexander Harris ; Emma, wife of Nat. G. Taylor, and Margaret, wife of Capt. W. D. Haynes.

Of the sons, Hon. Landon (. Haynes was the most noted of the family. He ran two unsuccessful races for Congress against Andrew Johnson and one against Hon. T. A. R. Nelson. He was a member of the Tennessee Legislature at one time, and speaker of the Senate; was a member of the Jonesborough bar, and prominent among such distinguished lawyers as Judge Deaderick, Gen. Thomas D. Arnold, Hon. T. A. R. Nelson, Judge Milligan, Hon. John Netherland, and Hon. Joseph B. Heiskell. He was an elector for the State at large in 1860, on the Breckinridge ticket. He served with Hon. Gustavus A. Henry as a Confederate senator from Ten- nessee during the war, and left a reputation as one of the finest orators of Tennessee, ranking in eloquence and ability with Bailie Peyton, Meredith P. Gentry, William II. Polk. Gus. A. Henry, Jo. C. Guild, James (. Jones and Andrew Johnson, with all of whom he made canvasses. Hisson, Hon. Robert W. Haynes, now living at Jackson, Tennessee, has twice represented Madison county in the Legislature.

Of David Haynes' daughters, Emma is the wife of Rev. N. G. Taylor, and mother of flon. Robert L. Taylor, both ex-members of Congress. Her son, Hon. 1. A. Taylor, made a brilliant canvass as elector for the State at large for Garfield in 1880; has once represented Carter and Johnson counties in the Legislature, and is how engaged in the practice of law and in farming ou Nolachucky river.

Mrs. Haynes' sister, Edna, is the wife of Rev. Dr. 1. N. Harris, a prominent Southern Methodist minis- ter, and her son, Nat. E. Harris, is now a leading lawyer at Macon, Georgia.

By his first marriage Capt. Haynes has three children : (1). Rhoda E., born June 24, 1860; graduated from Sullen's College, Bristol, 1882. (2), Mary T., born De- cember 25. 1861. (3). William Lee, born March 2, 1865.

Capt. Haynes next married at Blountville, Tennes- see, September 30, 1860, his second cousin, Miss Maggie Haynes, daughter of Matt. T. Haynes, a lawyer, and brother of Landon C. Haynes. Her mother, ner Miss Margaret Dulaney, was the daughter of Dr. William E. Dulaney, of Blountville. Her grandfather, Dr. Elkana Dulaney, of " Medical Grove, " his home near Blount-

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ville, was a member of the Tennessee Legislature. The Dulaney family is famous for the number of physicians among them for generations back. They are of French Huguenot extraction. Dr. Joseph E. Dulaney, Mrs. Haynes' unele, was a surgeon of note in the Confederate army. Her uncle, Dr. N. T. Dulaney, represented Sul livan county two terms in the Tennessee Legislature, and is considered a leading physician in upper East Tennessee. Mrs. Haynes is a grand daughter of Mrs. Mary Dulaney, who was a daughter of Gen. Taylor, the grandfather of Nat. M. Taylor, of Bristol, Mrs. Haynes has one brother, Hal. H. Haynes, a lawyer, at Blounts- ville .. Her sister, bannie, married N. C. St. John, a lawyer, in Smith county, Virginia. Her half-sister. Mattie J., is the wife of Dr. J. M. King, of Bristol. Her aunt, Eva, is the wife of Rev. J. W. Bachman, of

Chattanooga. (See Dr. Bachman's sketch elsewhere). Her aunt, Carrie, is the wife of Judge Charles J. St. John, chancellor First division of Tennessee. Her aunt, Mary, is wife of Dr. M. M. Butler, a leading phy. sician at Bristol. Her aunt, Lolie, is wife of George B. Smith, an artist and merchant at Bristol. Her aunt, Ellen. is wife of Fulton St. Jolin, a successful farmer in Smith county, Virginia.

By his second marriage Capt. Haynes has three chil- dren: (1). Lannie May, born January 6, 1875. (2). Roberta Young, born September 7, 1878. (3). Matt. Dulaney, born August 29, 1882.

Capt. Haynes has stuck to one business, to one place ; has avoided extravagance and dissipation, and wou his standing by hard work, economy and steady purpose to achieve success.

HON. NEWTON WHITFIELD MCCONNELL.

HARTSVILLE.

N EWTON WHITFIELD MCCONNELL, now of Hartsville, was born in Marshall county, Tennes. see, May 22, 1832, and was raised there, near Mooresville, on his father's farm, plowing, hauling, going to mill, splitting rails and doing everything a boy ever did on a farm. As a boy he was full of mirthfulness, fond of sport, fond of athletic play at school, and. after the crops were laid by, was always a regular attendant at the neighborhood schools until his sixteenth year. He then spent five months at Pleasant Grove Academy, near C'ulleoka; five months at the Mooresville Academy ; four months at the Lewisburg Academy, and five months at Jackson College, Columbia, Tennessee. He then entered Alleghany College, Meadville, Pennsylvania, and after a course of two years and three months, grad- uated an A. B., in 1855, taking the Latin salutatory in his class of twenty-one'members. Three years after he had the degree of A. M. conferred on him by his alma mater. In 1856 he married and taught school at the academy at Girard, Pennsylvania, two years, having under him some one hundred and fifty pupils.

In May, 1857, he came to Wilson county, and taught school at the Taylorsville Academy two years, then removed, September, 1859, to Hartsville, where he has lived ever since, teaching school from September, 1859, to February, 1862. From February. 1862, to the end of the war, he was in the Confederate army, and in prison. Ile first enlisted in Col. James D. Bennett's Ninth Tennessee cavalry, and was with this command until after the reorganization of the regiment immedi- ately following the battle of Shiloh, when Col. Bennett, having raised a new cavalry connuand in Tennessee, Judge MeConnell joined Company G, Fourth Tennessee

cavalry, known afterwards as Ward's cavalry, in Gen,. John II. Morgan's command. He remained with Mor- pan until after Bragg's retreat from Kentucky and loca- tion at Murfreesborough, when he was commissioned as captain to raise a company. After having recruited the company, he was captured near Hartsville, in Feb- ruary, 1863, and lay in jail in Gallatin for two months, and was then taken to Fort Delaware and held with fifty-nine other officers, as hostages, subject to retalia- tion for any harm that might befall Streight's men, who had been captured by Forrest at Rome, Georgia. From Fort Delaware he was taken to Johnson's Island in the latter part of 1863, and remained there until the night of January 1, 1861, when with four others, he made his escape, crossing Sandusky bay on the ice, but was recap- tured at Toledo, taken back to Jolmson's Island, and remained there until he was taken to Richmond, March 2, 1865, and never was exchanged. He, however, went to his command, Ward's cavalry, then in den. Breckin- ridge's department, at Abingdon, Virginia. When Gen. Lee surrendered, Gen. Breckinridge disbanded his army, and Capt. MeConell went with Col. Giltner to Mount Sterling, Kentucky, where he surrendered, in May, 1865. He was in the battle at Shiloh, April 6, 1862; battle of Hartsville, December 6, 1862; in Mor- gan's " Christmas raid " into Kentucky, and in various skirmishes.

While Judge McConnell was in the army his wife and child ( Frank W.), were at Hartsville until Septem- ber, 1861, when Mrs. McConnell went to her father's in Pennsylvania, and remained there until the war closed. Peace established, he brought his family back to Hartsville, where he taught in the academy two

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years. In August, 1867, he was licensed to practice law by Judge Andrew McClain and Chancellor Barry, the law having been his objective profession for years. He practiced in the courts of Summer, Smith and Macon counties, and in the State Supreme court until Febru- ary, 1875, when he was commissioned circuit judge, by Gov. James D. Porter, and beld the position under that appointment until August. 1876, when he was elected by the people to fill out the unexpired term of Judge S. M. Fite, which expired September 1, 1878. 1u August preceding he was elected for the full term of eight years, which expires September 1, 1886.

In 1872, Judge McConnell was elected State senator for the counties of Summer, Trousdale, Macon, Smith. Jackson and Clay, and served in the senate of 1873. as chairman of the committees on corporations, and tip- pling and tippling houses. He introduced and had passed the " Local Option Bill," but Gov. John C. Brown vetoed it, on the ground that it had passed irregularly in the house.

In 1874. he was a candidate for Congress from the Fourth Tennessee district, but in the congressional con- vention the " two-thirds rule" was adopted, and though at one time he came within one-sixth of a vote of get- ting the requisite two-thirds, finally failed, Judge Fite getting the nomination, and. McConnell the judgeship made vacant by Fite. Judge McConnell laughingly says he " shot at the buck and killed the doe that time," which only shows, however, that the Lord knows better how to take care of a man than he does himself.

Politically speaking, Judge McConnell sucked Demo- cratic milk when a baby, and has been a Democrat ever since. When eighteen years old he joined the Presby- terian church and is now an elder, and has often attended as a lay delegate the presbyteries and synods of the church. Raised and educated in-that church, he loves it dearly and is orthodox in his faith, though lib- eral in his views of other denominations. He is an active churchman, as indeed he is active from his tem- perament in everything he goes about, and could not well be any other way. He began his business life on limited means, but is now in comfortable circumstances. He has been heard to say : " The only lamp that has guided my feet along the pathway of life is, whatever my convictions taught me was right and my duty I have unfalteringly done it."

But this biographical sketch would not be complete without a more specific notice of his judicial career. In his administration of both the civil and criminal law, he has shown rare ability, and achieved signal sue- cess. In civil controversies he has given litigants gen- eral satisfaction. 'And when appeals have been prose- cuted to the Supreme court, his judgments have borne the closet scrutiny and seldom been reversed. Possess ing a mind thoroughly trained, and capable of correct discernment of the most intricate distinctions, he sue cessfully masters the most difficult legal problems.

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In his administration of the criminal law, he has made himself' an indispensable factor of our State judi- ciary. He has held the reins of the law with a firin hand, and always unflinchingly adhered to the discharge of his duty. He has superior administrative ability, as shown by the clearing up of the crowded dockets of his circuit. He is an enemy of all crime, and pursues with an unsparing hand the gambler, illegal liquor seller and pistol carrier. He often reminds the grand juries in his charges that sober people rarely commit crime, hence their duty by every lawful means to suppress the sale of liquor to them, and thus prevent crime.

As a public speaker he is fluent, never wanting for language. earnest and magnetic.

In 1883, he was Grand Master of Masons of the State of Tennessee, having previously filled the office of Master of Union Lodge No. 113; Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge, 1873; Grand Senior Warden, 1874; twice Deputy Grand Master, and ais a Knight Templar of :

Baldwin Commandery, Lebanon. He is also a Knight of Honor.

Judge McConnell is the uncompromising foe of intemperance. When a child his father, who was a very ardent temperance man, made the son pledge eter- mal animosity against liquor and the liquor traffic ; hence, his well-earned reputation as the leader of the temperance movement in Tennessee. He has closed every saloon in his judicial circuit by the enforcement of the four-mile law. So much for what a father can do through a fearless and obedient son. More than this, the family name is unsullied throughout, not a drunkard among them.

Judge McConnell married his wife near Meadville, Pennsylvania, February 26, 1856. She was Miss Nannie Elizabeth McCall, daughter of Capt. Samuel and Martha McCall. Her father was a prosperous farmer, of Scotch-Irish stock. Her mother was pure Welsh, daughter of David Morris, a native of Wales. Mrs. McConnell comes of a plain, unpretentious. common- sense family of the very highest reputation, belonging to the great middle class of society, and is connected with the Campbell family, of Pennsylvania, the same family that Gien. Robert Hatton. of Tennessee, was con- nected with, Gen. Hatton's father and Mrs. McConnell's father being cousins. Her salient traits are self-sacri- ficing devotion to her family and the good of others, intelligence, good strong judgment about affairs, benev- olence, beingspecially kind to the sick, and possessing the highest sense of honor ; hence, she is beloved by all who know her. She is naturally lively and cheerful, consequently is often . taken for Judge MeConell's second wife, and her son has not infrequently been asked if she was not his sister, so well preserved, youth- ful and happy does she appear

By this marriage three children have been born : (1). Francis Winston ( Frank ) McConnell, born January 26, 1861; graduated B.S. at Vanderbilt University, May,

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1883, and is now a professional teacher ; married, Au- gust 20, 1884, Miss Mollie C. Corley, of Davidson county. (2). Odell Whitfield McConnell, born July 4, 1868. (3). Annie Eloise McConnell, born April 26. 1873.

The MeConnell family is of Scotch Irish stock, and came from the north of Ireland. Judge MeComell's grandfather, Emanuel MeConnell, was born at Port Tobacco, Maryland, and was left an orphan at eight years old, in the care of his uncle, who joined a colony to move to South Carolina. The colony started, but the uncle remained behind to attend to some business, sending Emanuel on with the colony. Soon after, the unele was killed by the Indians, hence, when Emanuel reached South Carolina, he was cut off from his imme- diate relations, and never knew much of the history of his family. He joined the regular army in the Revolu- tionary war and participated in the battle of the Cow- pens, the siege of King's mountain, and was under Sumpter and Morgan, and fought in the partisan wars in South Carolina. He married Miss Armstrong, of South Carolina, and left a large family, three sons, John, Jeremiah and James; and five danghters, Eliza- beth, Nancy, Tabitha, Rachel and Patsey. He died in March, 1843, in Marshall county, Tennessee, at the very advanced age of ninety years. He was a pioneer settler in that part of the country-a plain man, noted for his firmmess, honesty and patriotism. His son, Jeremiah McConnell, was Judge MeConnell's father. He was born in Georgia, came from there to Tennessee when a small boy and died, in 1871, at the age of seventy-four,

leaving seven children : (1). Calvin Luther McConnell. (2). Harriet Atwood McConnell, wife of Nicholas Cheatham. (3). Newton Whitfield McConnell, subject ofthis sketch. (4). Amanda Edwards McConnell, widow of William Rutledge: (5). Aseneth Morrison MeCon- nell, wife of William Bryant. (6). Jackson Waits McConnell, a farmer on the old homestead in Marshall county. (7). Washington Emmons. McConnell, 'a farmer in Marshall county.

Judge MeConnell's father was a man of very strong native intellect, of rugged honesty ; unambitious, would never hold an office ; profoundly religious, a very great.". student of the Bible, and in his latter days would"read little else ; was cautious and prosperous in business, accumulated a good estate and took care of it, and, as said before, was a very ardent temperance man. His wife, wer Annabel D. Martin, was born in North Carolina, daughter of William and Mary Martin. She came with her parents to Tennessee when a small girl, and is now living, at the age of eighty-one, with her son, Jackson McConnell, in Marshall county. She is a woman of great purity and goodness of character, de- voutly religions and noted for her benevolence. She is a model housekeeper -- a lady of the old school-self- reliant, self-helpful, and takes great pride in her chil- dren and grandchildren, the latter of whom now number twenty-three. Her mother's maiden name was Barbour. Her brothers fought on the patriot side in the war of the Revolution. One of them rose to the rank of colonel in the Continental army.

CAPT. WALTER S. BEARDEN.

SHELBYVILLE.

T' HIS ripe scholar, successful lawyer, ex-soldier, and popular gentleman, was born in Petersburg, Lin- coln county, Tennessee, January 10, 1814. As a child he was fond of study, was an apt scholar, and by the time he was twelve or thirteen years of age was in the leading classes in mathematics and the classics in the academy he attended. At fifteen he began to assist in teaching, always choosing the advanced classes, and began to support himself " before there was a hair upon his face." Since fifteen years of age he has cost no man a cent. At sixteen, he carried a class through Davies' Bourdon (algebra), having himself solved every prob- lem in it. He had mastered the curriculum in the schools near his home before he was old enough to go to college, and continued to assist in giving instruction till the fall of 1860, when he entered Emory and Henry College, Virginia, and remained till the following spring, when the college closed on account of the war. From his earliest years he has been a great reader and studied with keen interest a great variety of miscellane-

ous works. Often he and his brother would lie in bed at night and read until 2 o'clock. In this way he ac- quired a valuable stock of information on many subjects, besides cultivating facility of expression and becoming familiar with the language of standard writers. Re- turning to Tennessee in the spring of 1861, he taught a country school near Petersburg a few months.

He next assisted in raising a company for the Con- federate service --- company E, Forty-first Tennessee reg- iment-and was made second-lieutenant, although not quite eighteen years old. At the battle of Fort Don- elson he was captured with his regiment and impris- oned several months 'at Camp Chase and Johnson's Island. After the exchange and reorganization of his regiment he was elected first-lieutenant, and during the last two years of the war was captain of his company. lle saw war in all its vicissitudes -- cavalry fights, in- fantry fights and fights with gunboats-the field, the march, the camp and the prison. He was in the cam- paign around Vicksburg, during which his regiment

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formed a part of Gregg's famous brigade, and went through one of the toughest campaigns endured by any body of troops during the struggle. He was in the Dalton and Atlanta campaign from New Hope church to Jonesborough, during which time his company suf- fered severely, and Capt. Bearden was three times wounded. He was at Peachtree Creck, Georgia, on July 20, 1864; on the right of Atlanta in the same month, and at. Jonesborough, Georgia, August 31, 1864, where he received a severe wound in the thigh, which disabled him and put him on crutches for the rest of the war. After the Jonesborough battle he went to Aberdeen, Mississippi, and there remained till the sur- render.

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 47

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