Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 49

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 49

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Maj. Foster was married in Nashville, June 19, 1866, to Miss Lizzie Nichol, daughter of JJohn Nichol, one of the oldest citizens of the place. She, too, is a Presby- terian in her religious faith. She is a lady of domestic tastes, splendid social qualities, and most charitable impulses. They have. one living child, a daughter.

Maj. Foster is in a great degree a self-educated man. Even while acquiring his academic training, he aided largely in defraying the expenses by his own labor. From the time he embarked in life for himself, he has been self-reliant. The very nature of his profession required accuracy and promptness, and he made it a vital point never to be delinquent and never to submit his work till he had thoroughly proven its correctness. Having conscientiously schooled himself by this rule, his rise was, very naturally, steady and rapid. Person - ally, he is universally esteemed by his fellow-citizens, while, in his profession, he is accepted as an authority wherever known.

PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

HON. WM. M. RANDOLPHI.

MEMPHIS,

W ILLIAM M. RANDOLPH was born near La- Grange, Fayette county, Tennessee, June 16, 1837. When about two years of age his parents moved to Clark county, Arkansas, where they remained about two years and then returned to Tennessee, and lived in the vicinity of Somerville till December, 1814, when they removed to Memphis, and after remaining there a few months, returned to Arkansas in May, 1815. They settled in Clark county, bear Arkadelphia, where they remained till 1849, and then moved into the town of Arkadelphia, where they are still living, both at a very advanced age.

Young Randolph received nearly all of his early ed- ucation from his mother, having no advantage of a school until he was thirteen years of age. He then went to school about four months, but stopped on ac- count of sickness, started again within a year, and con- tinned for about a year and a half, and subsequently attended another school for about the same length of time. He also attended a grammar school for about six weeks, taught by Allen M. Scott, at which he attained marked success. In 1852, he went into the post-office at Arkadelphia as clerk and assistant post-master, and re- mained about four months. In August, 185.4, he became the deputy of Isaac W. Smith, who filled the offices of clerk of the circuit court, probate court, chancery court, county court and recorder. In August, 1856, Newton S. Love was elected to succeed Mr. Smith, and after remaining with him long enough to instruct him in the duties of his office, Mr. Randolph retired, January 1, 1857.

In the meantime, he had been reading law with Hon. Harris Flanagin, afterward governor of Arkansas, and in January, 1857, he went to Little Rock to read law with Ebenezer Cummins and Augustus HI. Garland, the latter of whom was subsequently United States senator from Arkansas, and is now attorney-general of the United States. A short time after Mr. Randolph entered this office Mr. Cummins died, and Mr. Garland kept a place for Mr. Randolph as partner till he got license to practice law. He was licensed in February, !858, by Chief Justice Elbert H. English, of Arkansas, before whom he had practiced in a moot court, and by whom he was told that his license was ready whenever he wanted it. He was then admitted to a partnership by Mr. Garland, and they practiced all over the State, but particularly in the Supreme court, having as large a practice as any firm in Arkansas, till the secession move- ment began.

Mr. Garland became a delegate to the State conven- tion in Arkansas, which was called to pass upon the question of secession ; was also a delegate to the con- vention when it met a second time, and afterward a

delegate to the provisional Congress at Montgomery, after which he had very little to do with the businesy of the firm. Mr. Randolph remained at Litte Rock attending to his practice till December, 1861, when, through the influence of Mr. Garland, he was appointed Confederate States district attorney for the eastern dis- . triet of Arkansas, which position he held till January, 1861, and then resigned. He continued living at Little Rock till it was occupied by the United States forces in September, 1863, retiring before them into south Ar- kansas, where he remained till JJanuary, 1864, and then having received assurances from the Federal military authorities at Little Rock that he might pursue his or- dinary avocation there ummolested, he returned to that city. In April, 1865, he removed to Memphis, where he has since resided, continuing in the practice of his pro- fession. Upon going to Memphis, he formed a partner- ship with Samuel T. Morgan, who died in 1867, and af- ter that he was in partnership for one year with Abram R. Herron and Leopold Lebman; after that firm was dissolved, went in with Treadwell S. Ayres and James (. Calhoun, and after the death of Mr. Calhoun, contin- ued with Mr. Ayres several years, and then formed a partnership with Hon. E. S. Hammond, now United States district judge. The firm lasted untill Judge Hammond went upon the bench, in 1878. During a part of the time Mr. R. D. Jordan was a member of the firm. One year of the time, Mr. Samuel S. Wassell, of Little Rock, was also a partner in the firm. After this firm was dissolved, Mr. Randolph practiced alone for several years. . In 1882, he was in partnership with Mr. E. B. Mefleury; and after that firm dissolved, continued business with Robert M. Heath, as Randolph & Heath, for a year or more, and since that time has been practicing alone.

In early life, Mr. Randolph was a Democrat, and fol- lowing the teachings of that party, he believed the right of secession was reserved to the States under the consti- Ition, and that in the then existing circumstances, the Southern States were justified in resorting to it in 1861. He was kept out of the army by physical disability, and as the war progressed, he saw that the failure of the South was beyond question, and also decided in his own mind that it was not best that it should succeed. He had never believed that slavery was right, nor did he be- lieve that any government founded on slavery could be a good or a just government. After his views changed he kept quiet till the war was over, remaining at his home and doing what practice he could. After the war he was disfranchised, along with the great mass of people in the South, and did not vote till 1869. All his advice and influence were exerted toward having the people of the South acquiesce in the state of affairs

Thomas Panice

PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

and give their active, hearty support to the government and the party which controlled the government, feeling that all opposition was not only futile but injurious. Entertaining such views, he very naturally coalesced with the Republican party, and has continued to vote with them up to this time. He was city attorney of Memphis from December, 1869, to February, 1874, with an intermission of about six months. In 1874 he was a candidate for the State senate, but failed to secure his seat ; in 1876, was a delegate to the Republican na tional convention at Cincinnati, and in the fall of 1876, as also in 1878, was a candidate for Congress against Hon. Casey Young, but again failed to secure his seat. He has never sought office and has never been a candi- date, except at the solicitation of his party and his friends.

Mr. Randolph was married at Little Rock, January 17, 1861, to Miss Rebecca E. Wassell, daughter of John Wassell, a gentleman of English birth, who was a prom- inent lawyer at Little Rock, a leading member of the Episcopal church, in early times was one of the publish- ers of the Arkansas Whig, and at different times served as mayor of the city, judge of the probate court, and filled numerous other positions. Mrs. Randolph's mother was Miss Margaret Spotts, a native of Delaware, but raised in Louisville, Kentucky. Mrs. Randolph has been a member of the Episcopal church from her girlhood. By his marriage with Miss Wassell, Mr. Randolph has five children now living: (1). Laura. (2). George, aged seventeen, now in his father's office. (3). Edward, aged fifteen, at Christian Brothers' Col- lege, Memphis, (4). Amy, aged ten. (5). Wassell, aged five.

Mr. Randolph's father, Rodolph Randolph, is a na- tive of Virginia, born in Amelia county, near Farm- ville, on the Appomattox river. His father, Henry Randolph, was a soldier. in the body-guard of Gen.

Washington during the Revolution. He was married to Mary Poytress and moved to West Tennessee in 1827.

The mother of the subject of this sketch, was Miss Lucretia A. Greene, daughter of Mial Greene and Nancy Jackson. She was born in Dinwiddie county, Virginia. and came to Tennessee with her parents from that State.

Like most men of success, Mr. Randolph is emphat- ically a self-made man. When he began the study of law. he determined to make that his business and to follow nothing else. This plan he has assiduously and faithfully pursued through life, and devotes now a con- siderable portion of each day to the study of his pro- fession. His father had not the means to give him an education or a start in life, and many years ago became an'invalid, dependent upon his son for a support. Thus he started in life with no money and very little educa- tion, but with native talent, studious habits and indom- itable will-power, he has persevered and conquered suc- cess. He has been continually at work from the time he commenced till now, with never an idle day or an idle minute. He is a constant reader, yet never neg- lects his duty to his clients'or to his family. Raised in a new country, with no books, no teachers, few churches and few educated people, his carly ambition was to get all the knowledge he could from every possible source, and to do what he had to do with all his might, energy and intelligence.

His success in Memphis has been quite remarkable, hardly surpassed by any member of the bar of that city. Ile has been president of the Memphis Bar and Law Li- brary Association since 1878, and looks with consider- able pride upon his efforts toward building up the very excellent library that Association now owns. He is temperate in his habits and never gambled in his life. In his youth he was very fond of the sports of hunt- ing and fishing, pastimes in which he still indulges with keen enjoyment.

CAPT. THOMAS H. PAINE.

NASHVILLE.

H ARDEN PAINE, the grandfather of Thomas II. Paine, was born in Person county, North Caro- lina, March 4, 1783. He married Nancy Bumpass, of the same county, February 15, 1807. She was a descen- dant of one of the carly pioneers of that county, who came from Petersburg. Virginia, where he had long been a merchant and a prominent man, but whose fortune had been impaired by adverse circumstances. Here, in the wilds of the Roanoke, he commenced anew the struggle of life with the heart and courage of one un. subdued in the purposes of honorable manhood, and again won the independence of his former standing and

the means of liquidating a debt of three thousand pounds entailed upon him by the dishonesty of a busi- ness associate. He became the progenitor of an exten- sive family distinguished by men of high respectability. Harden Paine came of a sturdy English ancestry. His grandfather, Dr. James Paine (the great-great grand- father of Capt. Thomas HI. Paine), emigrated to America about 1740, and settled in Granville county, North Carolina. He married in Virginia an estimable lady by the name of Harden, a name that became prominent in the family nomenclature. Having acquired a large fortune, he erected a goodly mansion and surrounded

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himself with all the comforts of a " fine old English gentleman of ye olden time." He was educated to the profession of medicine and surgery in London, whence. he emigrated and practiced that profession for a number of years in his colonial home. His residence was in the midst of one of the carliest settlements of that sec- tion, and his house was long known by way of eminence as the " brick house." He was the founder of a large and extensive family, distinguished in genealogical annals as the Roanoke branch of the Paine family in the South.

Ile had four sous, Robert, John, James and William, from the first of whom was descended the late Bishop Paine, of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. William, the youngest, was the father of Harden, of whom we write. He was born in Person county, North Carolina, December 19, 1751, and on arriving at ma- turity became a planter-a pursuit he followed the remainder of his life. Although of limited education, he was a man of good judgment, of great industry and withal, like old Simeon, he was "a just man and devout." Of him it has been said by the most eminent man of the name: " I remember him and his good wife very well. Ile was greatly respected and loved by his family and neighbors -- cheerful, amiable, a strict member and attendant of the church."

During the Revolution he was a firm patriot, sharing throughout in the toils and privations of the North Carolina militia, and when the conflict was over, he returned to the peaceful pursuits of the soil. He mar- ried in 1781, and became the father of nine children, five sons and four daughters. He resided all his life in the county of his birth. He died about 1814. A short time before his death, Harden, the oldest son of the family, emigrated to Tennessee. He first settled in Giles county, but removed to Lawrence county. It was here, in imitation of his grandfather, Dr. James Paine, he built a brick house near Lawrenceburg, where he remained many years. It was a goodly home, among a refined and Christian people, where his days might be rounded out in the fruition of peace and happiness; but such was not to be. Hle again sought a new home in the then unbroken wilds of southwest Missouri. There he reverted to the pursuits of agriculture and laid the foundation of a new home. Peace, happiness and pros- perity came to his doors. As the new country grew in population, his name became honored as a good citizen. Though never in political life nor a seeker for its offices, he was often placed in positions of public trust. When the civil war came on he was "old and well stricken in years," and sought to avoid the trials of the impending strife by removing to Texas. But his mission was soon to terminate. He lived to the end of the war. and calmly awaited the final summons, It came December 9, 1865, when he passed away in his eighty-third year.

Harden Paine was endowed by nature with great qualities which but needed the refining touches of edu

cational training to make him a man capable of taking high rank. He had a splendid physique and deported himself with dignified demeanor. Politically, he was a Democrat of the Jeffersonian-Jackson school. Iv religion, a Baptist, and his convictions were emphasized by a deportment that bespoke him a Christian gentle- man. Among his acquaintances his word was the syn- onym of truth. His friendships were enduring-his? benefactions liberal. He was exact in all his obliga- tions to others and demanded the same in return. Hle sought no distinction among men but preferred the humble walks, which he adorned by a consistent and honorable devotion to duty. To his life the lines of the ? poet might well apply :

"'Tis only noble to be good ; Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood."

The father of Capt. Thomas II. Paine was Maj. Sid- ney S. Paine, a 4farmer by occupation, a major in the days of the militia, a prominent member of the Primi- tive Baptist church, in which he preached some in his latter days. He was a warm advocate .of education and literary in his tastes-in short, an intelligent, up- right, honorable and useful citizen. He died in 1868, at the age of sixty years. He was one of twin brothers, the other of whom, Jesse L. Paine, was a successful business man, and quite a prominent citizen of Dallas county, Missouri. Having settled there at an early day, he "grew up with the country " and became well known, not only in his own, but in other counties of the south- western part of that State. He was clerk of the circuit court of his county for about twenty years. At the be- ginning of the war, to save his property, and avoid the sanguinary strife that threatened his immediate vicin- ity, he moved with his father to Texas, where he died within a day or two of the same time of the death of his twin brother in Tennessee.

Capt. Paine's mother, mor Susan J. Allen, now living, at the age of sixty-three, in Wayne county, Tennessee, is a native of Davidson county, Tennessee, daughter of Jeremiah Allen. Her mother was Mary Ann Daniel. v

Thomas HI. Paine was born in Lawrence county, Ten- nessee, December 1, 1836. He grew up there, working on his father's farm and going to school when in session, until the age of eighteen years, when he went to his grandfather's in Missouri, and attended school at Lebanon Seminary one year. He then came back to Tennessee. Soon after his return from Missouri he en- tered Jackson College, Columbia, Tennessee, where he completed his collegiate education under President B. F. Mitchell, and the noted surveyor and mathematician, Prof. O. H. P. Bennett, After leaving college, he read law at Lawrenceburg, in the office of Attorney-General Lee M. Bently, and was admitted to the bar in 1861, by Judge Elijah Walker and Chancellor Stephen C. Pavatt, and had just gotten fairly into practice at Law- renceburg, in partnership with Caleb B. Davis, when

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he, although just of age, was elected to the Tennessee Legislature from Lawrence county. He had, however, a few months previous to this, been elected by the county court as county trastee. to fill the vacancy oc- casioned by the death of Isaac W. Alford, Esq. This unexpired term he filled with credit to one so young.

He entered the General Assembly of 1861-62, the youngest member of the body, and assumed and main- tained a high position throughout the session. While this Legislature was in session at Nashville, the fat of Fort Donelson necessitated its, adjournment to Mem- phis, February 16, 1862. It remained in session there for some weeks, and upon its adjournment sine die, in March following, Capt. Paine returned to his home in Lawrence county, where he at once raised. organized, and was elected captain of a company of cavalry, which be reported to Lieut .- Col. Cooper, of Biffle's regiment, with whom he served, with his company, for some time on recruiting service in Middle Tennessee, after which he reported to Col. G. Il. Nixon, and his be- came company A of Nixon's regiment Tennessee cay- alry, Confederate States army. He served in that com- mand until its surrender, under Gen. Forrest, in the spring of 1865. A considerable portion of this time, Capt. Paine, as senior officer, was in command of the regiment, Col. Nixon being on detached service or in command of the brigade, and the lieutenant colonel and major being prisoners of war. He was in active service with this command during the remainder of the struggle, taking part in many of the brilliant ope- rations of Gen. Forrest in Tennessee, Alabama, Miss- issippi and Georgia.

After the war, instead of resuming the practice of law, he was prevailed upon by the trustees of Jackson Academy at Lawrenceburg, to become principal of that institution, and held that position until again elected to the Legislature in November, 1870. Immediately after the adjournment of that Legislature (1871). he was elected president of Savannah College, at Savannah. Tennessee, which position he filled until June, 1874, ·when he resigned, and was soon thereafter nominated by the Democratic convention as a candidate for the State senate from the Eighteenth senatorial district, to which he was elected by a large majority Upon the organization of the Legislature he was elected speaker of the Senate-the second office in the State, ranking next to governor-and presided over that body with marked dignity, ability and impartiality.

As an evidence of the high appreciation of his ser- vices as speaker, the following complimentary resolu- tion, proposed by senator Ellis, a Republican, was unan- imously adopted just previous to the adjournment of the senate, and ordered to be spread upon the journal:

Resolved, That our thanks are due, and are hereby tendered, to the Honorable Thomas H. Paine, speaker of the senate, for the able and efficient manner in which he has presided over the delib . erations of this body. Prompt in attendance upon his official du ties, prosiding with dignity and firmness, quick in perception, hi-

impartial rulings have defied criticism, and his candor chal- lenged admiration, while his courteous demeanor has reflected honor and credit upon an honorable position.

When the senate adjourned, he again taught in the Savannah. College, and at Ross Academy. in Hardin county, until January 22, 1883, when he was appointed by Gov. Bate, and unanimously confirmed by the sen- ate, as State superintendent of public instruction, the position which he now holds, and the arduous duties of which he bas discharged with signal success.

In February, 1880, while quietly discharging his du- ties as a teacher in the college at Savannah. and with- out his knowledge, he was, upon the recommendation of Hon. J. D. C. Atkins and Hon. W. C. Whitthorne, members of Congress, appointed by the president as supervisor of the Tenth Census for the fourth dis- triet of Tennessee, comprising seventeen counties. He accepted the appointment, and at once went to work, and divided his district into one hundred and seventy- one enumeration districts, for each of which he ap- pointed one enumerator of census. He was remarkably successful in securing good business men for this im- portant and very particular work, and by the first of June following, he had blank schedules in the hands of every enumerator, and all were ready for the work. During the month of June he received daily reports from these officers as to the progress of the work. After the close of the labor of enumeration, he carefully ex- amined and corrected all the accounts for the services of his enumerators and recommended their payment. In all this, and in the report of his work made to the department of the interior, he gave universal satisfac- tion.

Capt. Paine, though nominally a lawyer, has practiced but little, his time having been taken up by his service in the army; and as teacher and also as a politician, stumping various portions of the State on important issues of the various canvasses. In politics, he is a Democrat. He is a Royal Arch and Council Mason, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, a Knight of Honor, having organized a number of lodges of that order in Tennessee and Alabama, and is also a member of the Tennessee Historical Society.

Capt. Paine married in Lawrence county, Tennessee, May 24, 1859, Miss Minerva A. Kelly, daughter of John J. Kelly, a planter, formerly of Alabama. ' Her mother, Susan M. Boswell, was the daughter of William Boswell, of Lawrence county, originally from North Car- lina. Mrs. Paine is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church, South, and was educated near Florence. Alabama. Three children have blessed their union, all born in Lawrence county: (1). Susan Ida Paine, a graduate of Hardin Female College, Savannah, Tennes see. (2). Thomas Harden Paine, (3). Memphis Kelly Paine.

Capt. Paine's only living brother, Dr. Jere. A. Paine, is a prominent physician in Wayne county, Tennessee. His brother, Jesse Allen Paine, died in the Confederate

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army, a private in Capt. B. F. Matthews' company K, Third Tennessee regiment.

C'apt. Paine's cousin, John HI. Paine, son of Jesse L Paine, to whom reference has been made in this sketch . is quite a prominent citizen of Springfield, Missouri. He was, for a long time, clerk of the circuit court, and is now recorder of deeds in that city.

Ilis only surviving unele on his father's side is James W. Paine, of Macon county, Missouri, now a merchant of Callao, in that county. Judge Paine, as he is famil- iarly called, is a man of a high order of intelligence and very popular. Without seeking the position, he was elected by the people to the office of judge of the county court, which he filled with credit to himself and satis- faction to the people. Preferring to give his attention to his private business, he declined a re-election. He is now growing old, but is still vigorous and industrious.

Capt. Paine is six feet high, slightly stooping, weighs

one hundred and seventy-five pounds, is of large, strong build, and has the appearance of a man of force and yet of kindness. His profile shows him to be what is called a long-headed man, and his projecting brows and promi- nent chin at a glance indicate him a man of energy and character. He has risen to the highest honors of the educational profession, has been able in all stations, and makes a fine representative Tennessean, Kindness is one of his chief characteristics. The clasp of his hand tells you at once he is a whole souled man and a winner of hearts. The lesson that his father taught him, that kindness and politeness cost nothing and pay well, he has put to a severe test by standing security for others and finally having their debts to pay. But another striking characteristic is, that he has always made it a point to do well what he does at all, and to make the most of every undertaking, being faithful to every charge entrusted to his hands.

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 49

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