Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 58

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

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Dr. Morgan is a man of large, well-proportioned physique, full of energy and push, and this, too, not- withstanding he has been lame from his childhood from rheumatic affection. Yet no one ever saw him blue.

He is always cheerful and full of business. Moreover, he is a most companionable gentleman ; affable without affectation, and polite because suavity is inherent with him. He is in comfortable, independent circumstances, and owns several valuable buildings in Nashville. By the war he lost twenty thousand dollars, yet Bradstreet. now rates him as worth forty thousand dollars, with first-class credit. A determination to excel, and the concentration of his powers upon the work of his pro- fession, account for his success. He is universally regarded as an honest and a just man. In the commu- nity where he is best known and best beloved, his integ- rity is beyond question. As a dentist he has never advertised, except in a simple business card. The characteristic of stern Welsh perseverance, not easily turned from a purpose, is brightly illustrated in his life and his work.

In politics Dr. Morgan was an old line Whig, and in feeling still adheres to that celebrated party, though of late years he has acted mainly with the Democrats. He has never claimed to be an orthodox Democrat ; has voted for principles and not for party; for measures in preference to men. It was, therefore, a matter of great surprise to the hide-bound, dyed-in-the-wool Democ- racy, when the telegraph announced, on November 11, 1885, that President Cleveland had appointed Dr. Mor- gan as a member of the board of Indian commissioners, in place of Hon. Orange Judd, resigned. The appoint- ment was unsolicited, unsought by Dr. Morgan, and was . as much of a surprise to him as it was to the spoilsmen and office-seekers. The following editorial from the Nashville Union, November 14, 1885, will show, how- ever, the wisdom of the selection : "The appointment of Dr. W. H. Morgan, by the president of the United States, as a member of the board of Indian commis- sioners is, to say the least of it, a safe appointment, so far as the government is concerned. The office is one without a salary, only actual expenses paid while on official business, and is limited to a very few and very simple duties, the principal qualification being incor- ruptibility, with prudence and discretion. Where the president got his information about Dr. Morgan nobody seems to know ; but if he was simply looking out for a man whose character was a guarantee that there would be no publie scandal or jobbery where he presides, then the president stopped at the right man in taking Dr. W. Il. Morgan.

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REV. ACHILLES D. SEARS, D. D.

CLARKSVILLE.

THE venerable and devoted man of God, who is ---

the subject of this sketch, now in charge of a pastorate in Clarksville, is of English descent, both his grandparents having immigrated from England and set- tled in Virginia. His paternal grandfather, William B. Sears, who was a cousin of Gen. Charles Lee, of Rey- olutionary fame, was at one time, sheriff of Fairfax county, Virginia. He married Elizabeth Whaley, and their oldest son, Charles Lee Sears, who died in Vir- ginia during the late civil war, married Elizabeth Worster, daughter of John Worster, an English gentle- man who had settled in Virginia. From this marriage was born the subject of this sketch. The Whaley and Worster families are still numerously represented in Fairfax county, while the Searses are plentifully seat- tered throughout the northwestern States. The ances- tors of William B. Sears lived in Normandy, before the Norman invasion. . One of the name came to England with William the Conqueror. The name, under va- rious modifications, is found numerously spread through- out England. . Two of them are known to have come to America. One, Richard Sears, landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1610. The other, William B. Sears, came to Fairfax county, Virginia, in 1755.

Dr. Sears was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, Jan- uary 1, 1804. He was brought up to work on a farm, and derived his early education from the common English schools of the neighborhood, his principal teachers being Profs. Klepstein and Richardson, two well known instructors in their time. The only one. of his early school-mates now known to be living, is Henry Millan, of Lucas county, Iowa.

In 1823, being then but nineteen years of age, Dr. Sears removed to Kentucky, and settled in Bourbon county, where he engaged in teaching school for about five years, in the meantime studying law with Lucien J. Feemster. In 1828, he married and removed to Fay- ette county, near Lexington, and engaged in farming for several years. In 1838, he became a member of the Baptist church, was ordained for the ministry at Davis Fork church, by Revs. Daruaby Leake and Dr. Dillard, in 1839, and began his labors as a home missionary in northern Kentucky, with headquarters at Flemings- burg.

In 1842, he was called to take charge of the First Baptist church of Louisville, where he remained for seven years. Ile then became general agent of the Baptists for Kentucky, in which capacity he served for two years, after which he took charge of the church at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, in 1851, where he remained till the beginning of the war of secession. Being an ardent supporter of the South, he was forced to leave

Kentucky when the Federals occupied the State, and, retiring to Mississippi, spent the next four years in the South, most of the time supplying the Baptist church at Columbus, Mississippi. The remainder of the time, under the auspices of the Southern Baptist Board of Missions, he was a missionary to the Confederate sol- diers, to many of whom he administered baptism.

While endeavoring to reach his family in Kentucky, he got as far as Clarksville, Tennessee, but was not al- lowed to enter Kentucky until martial law was abolished by President Johnson. He was called to the Baptist church in Clarksville, and has continued in charge of it up to the present time --- a period of twenty years. The church during that time has increased from twenty- five to two hundred and twenty-five members, while a new house of worship has lately been erected at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars, During the forty-six years of his ministry, he has baptized between two and three thousand persons, and, though now upwards of eighty years of age, he is in good health and performs the regular duties of his church with as much case to himself as he did twenty years ago. He has been a delegate to the following general conventions of the southern Baptists: At Richmond, Virginia, in 1846; at Nashville, Tennessee. in 1851; at Baltimore, Mary- land, in 1853; at Montgomery, Alabama, in 1855, where he preached the conventional sermon; at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1857; at Russellville, Kentucky, in 1866; at Memphis, Tennessee, in 1867.

Ile has frequently been called to deliver commence- ment sermons to various female colleges, including those at Lebanon, Bowling Green, Bardstown, Hopkins- ville and others. He was for four years moderator of the Cumberland Baptist Association, after which he declined a re-election. Prior to the war, he was, for several years, associate editor of the Western Recorder, published at Louisville.

Politically, though never conspicuous as an " offensive partisan," Dr. Sears has ever had very decided convic- tions. He was reared a Calhoun Democrat, and was, and still is, a thorough believer in the doctrine of State's rights. As a matter of course, he was a warm sympathizer with the South in the late civil struggle.

The warm interest Dr. Sears has taken in Masonry, and the number of high positions he has held in the order, render that portion of his history specially im- portant. He became a Master Mason, a Royal Arch Mason and Knight Templar, at Hopkinsville, Ken- tucky, in 1850, and affiliated with Clarksville Com- mandery, No. 8. in 1867. He was Commander of a Com- mandery in Kentucky for twelve years, and for a like number of years in Tennessee. He has been Worship

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ful Master, and is now Prelate of his Commandery. In 1870, he became Grand Commander for the State of Tennessee. As Past Grand Commander, he has been a prominent member of the Grand Encampment, and attended the triennial conclave until prevented by age. In 1849, he became a member of the order of Odd Fellows. In both orders he has frequently been called on to deliver addresses on important occasions; among which he recently delivered an address at the laying of the corner-stone of the first Baptist church, Nashville.

Dr. Sears was married, March 25, 1828, to Miss Ann B. Bowie, daughter of William Bowie, of Frederick county, Virginia, a descendant of the Bowies of Mary- land. She is a cousin of Col. James Bowie, of " bowie knife" fame. Her mother was Miss Card, of Raleigh, North Carolina, a member of the family who are the maternal ancestry of Hon. William Windom, late see- retary of the treasury. By his marriage with Miss Bowie Dr. Sears had four children, one of whom is now living," the wife of Jno. N. Major, formerly of Christian county, Kentucky, and the mother of one daughter and four sons, the oldest of whom, A. D. Sears Major, is now a practicing lawyer of Clarksville. Mrs. Sears is a mem- ber of the Baptist church, is full of energy and vivac- ity, though now more than eighty years old, and has always been a woman of strong mental powers and keen perceptive faculties.

Dr. Sears is a close student. Beginning life with no other education than that acquired in common schools, he applied himself to his books at every opportunity, and acquired a fair knowledge of Latin, Greek, He- brew and French by private study. Essentially the

architect of his own fortunes, he has made himself by work and study. Choosing a profession, he devoted himself to it closely, and has made it his aim to get and use whatever would be of advantage in his calling. His grandfathers were both free-thinkers, of the school of Tom Paine, and he himself, raised in an atmosphere of that sort, was brought to reflection by family sor- rows. . He began to read the Bible, got all his denomi- national views therefrom, was converted to God, and joined the church without having listened attentively to a single denominational sermon.

A late newspaper correspondent, writing of a recent Baptist assembly, speaks thus of Dr. Sears : "The most remarkable man present was Rev. A. D. Sears, D. D., who is eighty-two years old, and is yet hale and vig- orous in body and mind, and is abreast of the age in all mission and educational progress. His stirring' words to the people on the duty of giving liberally of their means for the extension of Christ's kingdom, were re- ceived with marked attention. If all the pastors in this association were as thoroughly missionary in spirit and practice as he is, where hundreds are reported now, we'd have thousands. The writer spent the night with this venerable man, and was much interested in his talk. One or two of his utterances I venture to give: 'I am eighty-two years old; I can't live much longer; as I look back over a checkered life, I find that I have not one kind word nor kind act to regret, and I wish all my actions and words had been kind.' Another: 'I am glad to say I never had a doubt that Jesus Christ came into the world and died to save sinners, and I never doubt that I have an interest in His blood and shall live with Ilim forever in Heaven."

J. HI. VAN DEMAN, A.M., M.D.

CHATTANOOGA.

D R. J. H. VAN DEMAN, of Chattanooga, justly regarded as one of the leading surgeons and phy- sicians of Tennessee, is a native of Ohio, born in Dela- ware county, of that State, October 27, 1829. He is a bright example of the self-made man, of an ambitious young American who, without inherited wealth or influential friends, overcomes obstacles, conquers diffi- eulties and at last achieves success. Thus, while a mere youth, he had to work hard for the money necessary to obtain an education. He graduated, June, 1819, in the classical course from the Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, and in the spring of 1852, graduated in medicine at the Cleveland (Ohio) Medical College, under Profs. De La Meter, H. A. Ackley, J. L. Cassells, Ja- red B. Kirtland, and others, and in the same year re- ceived, unsolicited, the degree of A. M., from his lit- erary alma mater.

Hle then engaged in practice at Delaware and vicinity, but still labored under financial difficulties, for when he quit the medical college he did so without a dollar in his pocket, and besides was in debt for his horse, his buggy, his books and his last course of lectures. But he possessed what is oftentimesfor more real value- he had pluck and energy, and a resolute will. He con- tinued in practice at Delaware until 1857, when, in order to better his pecuniary situation, he became a candidate and was elected clerk of the Ohio senate two terms, 1857-58 and 1858-59, while Hon. Sahnon P. Chase was governor of Ohio. With the money thus made he resumed his chosen profession, and practiced at Dela- ware until 1861.

When the rebellion broke out, he at once espoused the cause of the Union, and was made captain of com- pany K (which he raised), Sixty-sixth Ohio volunteer

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infantry. He participated with gallantry in the battles of Winchester, Port Republic, Larue and Cedar Moun- tain, Virginia. In the latter engagement he was slightly wounded in the head and was captured, while leading a reconnoissance, at ten o'clock at night. Ile was then taken to Libby prison, kept five months, pa- roled, and exchanged January 10, 1863, after which he rejoined his command, resigned his captain's commis- sion, and went into the medical department, Army of the Cumberland. He was assigned to duty as assistant- surgeon, and joined the Tenth Ohio infantry regiment at Tullahoma, Tennessee, May 5, 1863. He remained with that regiment one year, when, on May 5, 1864, he was promoted to be chief surgeon and medical purveyor of the United States military railroad department, di- vision of the Mississippi, and remained at Chattanooga in that capacity until October, 1865. In December, 1865, he took charge at Chattanooga as surgeon of the refugee and freedmen's department of the United States government, of which he had charge until the following July, when that division of the department was abolished. A short time after this he was made post surgeon of the regular United States army, sta- tioned at Chattanooga, and acted as such most of the time until 1879, when the post was discontinued and the troops moved to the West.

During his residence in Chattanooga, Dr. Van Deman has passed through three epidemics of small-pox, two of cholera, and one of yellow fever, remaining at his post during the existence of each.

Dr. Van Deman was president of the Tennessee State Medical Society in 1873, and presided over that body two years, one time by filling the vacancy caused by the absence of Dr. J. B. Murfree, of Murfreesborough, president of the society at that time, and who was de- tained at home on account of sickness in his family. Dr. Van Deman is also a member of the American Medical Association, and was for three years, 1876 to 1879, a member of its judicial council. He has been a member of the American Public Health Association since 1874; is an honorary member of the Delaware (Ohio) County Medical Society ; has served as examin- ing surgeon for the United States pension bureau at Chattanooga for eleven years, being surgeon now; and has also been surgeon of the marine hospital service since April, 1879, appointed by Hon. John Sherman, secretary of the treasury. Meanwhile, he has frequently contributed to medical literature-notably two articles, one on cholera in 1873, and one on the yellow fever ep- idemie of 1878-published in the reports and papers of the American Public Health Association. He re- tired from active practice in 1883, except as to surgery, which he still continues.

Dr. Van Deman joined the Masonic order in 1867 ; has taken the Chapter and Council degrees, and is now serving his seventh term as Worshipful Master of Chat tanooga Lodge, No. 199 He has also served as High

Priest of Hamilton Chapter, No. 49, two years, and as Thrice Illustrious Master of Mount Moriah Council, No. 50, four years, and is thought to have conferred more degrees than any other Masonic officer in the city of Chattanooga. He is also a Knight of Pythias; was the first presiding officer of the lodge at Chattanooga, and has served four terms in that capacity; also is a member of the endowment rank, and has been its president five years, or ever since its organization, He is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was the first Post Commander of Lookout Post, No. 2; indeed, of whatever local body of similar char- acter of which he is a member, he has been its presid- ing officer one or more terms.

The first political vote Dr. Van Deman ever cast was for the Whig ticket in 1852. But when the Whig party of the North was merged into the Republican party he went with the Democracy, and, singular to say, his com- pany was the only one in the army that gave a majority for Hon. Clement L. Vallandigham, for governor of Ohio, in 1863.

Dr. Van Deman was a member of the Chattanooga city council in 1871. With the exceptions named in the foregoing record, he has been engaged in nothing but his profession, to which he has devoted his life with zeal and fidelity, his medical library being his only com- pany in a literary point of view, and his chief forte operative surgery. One of his grand passions is to have the finest library and the finest set of surgical instru- ments of any doctor in the town, and he has them, and their use is free to any physician who may ask them.

Dr. Van Deman married in his native town, May 27, 1854, Miss Rebecca M. Norris, daughter of IIon. Wil- liam G. Norris, of New England descent, a leading judge, a prominent citizen, and a large farmer, of Dela- ware county, Ohio. Mrs. Van Deman's mother was Miss Phoebe Main, formerly of Connecticut. She died of cholera in 1869, leaving seven children. One of Mrs. Van Deman's brothers, Dr. James B. Norris, was for six years, from 1872 to 1878, Dr. Van Deman's partner in the practice of medicine at Chattanooga, from which place he went, in 1878, with a corps of sixteen nurses, to Vicksburg, during the yellow fever epidemic, and there the brave and noble fellow died. By special order of President R. B. Hayes and the secretary of war, his re- mains were removed from Vicksburg and buried in the national cemetery at Chattanooga, in 1879, in compli- ance with a wish Dr. Norris, expressed prior to his de- parture for Vicksburg. The record of his noble life closed with his martyrdom to his profession, in the cause of humanity, and his is an honest fame that should long outlive the boasted deeds of reckless valor.

Mrs. Van Deman was educated at Granville . Female College, Ohio, She in an ardent member of the Pro restant Episcopal church, takes active interest in chari- table enterprises, and is a leader in social circles. Dr. and Mrs. Van Deman have no children, but in 1881

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adopted Alice Elrod, an orphan girl, born in Hamilton county, Tennessee, August 29, 1868, and now being educated in Notre Dame Academy, conducted by the Sisters of the Roman Catholic church, at Chattanooga.

Dr. Van Deman's father, Rev. HI. Van Deman, a Presbyterian minister, preached thirty nine years to one congregation in Delaware, Ohio. He was born in Holland, but was raised in Ohio, and lived and died, at the age of seventy-eight years, in Delaware, Ohio. In early life, he served as private in the war of 1812. Dr. Van Deman's paternal grandfather, John Van Deman, a native of Holland, died a wealthy. farmer, near Chil- licothe, Ohio, eighty years old. His wife, who died in the same year, immigrated from Holland to America with him.

Dr. Van Deman's mother, nee Miss Sarah Darlington, is now living, eighty-three years old, at Delaware, Ohio, where she has lived since 1824. She was born in Vir- ginia, daughter of Joseph Darlington, who was, for fifty-five years, county clerk of Adams county, Ohio, and was also a member of the convention that framed the first constitution of the State of Ohio. His wife, nee Miss Sarah Wilson, was also a Virginian. . Dr. Van Deman's mother is a Presbyterian, and noted as a pious, consistent Christian woman.

One peculiarity of the entire Van Deman family is, that neither within the memory of man, or in written record or tradition, has there ever been known a single member who drank intoxicating liquors. They have all

1 been temperate men. Dr. Van Deman has never yet, in all his life, drank a glass of liquor; and being now a man of considerable property, in every lease he makes he inserts a clause that no liquors shall be sold on the premises, yet, he belongs to no temperance organization, Perhaps, also, his temperate habits greatly account for his robust and vigorous health-for he stands six feet high, weighs one hundred and ninety-nine pounds, and was never sick a week at one time.

In business, Dr. Van Deman attends to his own affairs, lives up to the Golden Rule, pays what he owes, and demands what is due. He attended, while in practice; to calls when they came ; if he got his money, well and : good ; if not, he forgave those who were unable to pay. Ile has never had a note go to protest, and as a physician lives strictly up to the code of ethics of the American Medical Association-never having a secret remedy he is not willing to impart to any medical man for the benefit of the sick. His chief ambition has been to make prop- erty enough to support his wife should he die first, and his greatest desire is to stand well through life, in the community where he has cast his fortunes. Comforta- ble in his circumstances, he now has a rent-roll income of over five thousand dollars a year, independent of his professional fees, owes no man anything, and enjoys the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens. Would that our State had many more such native born or adopted sons, quite as worthy to be enrolled among " Prominent Tennesseans."

COL. JOSIAH PATTERSON.

MEMPHIS.

T HIS gentleman, who ranks among the foremost lawyers of Tennessee, and whose reputation as an advocate of popular rights is co-extensive with the borders of his adopted State, first saw the light in Mor- gan county, Alabama, April 14, 1837. There he grew to manhood, doing all manner of work on his father's farm. He received a fair English and classical educa- tion in the academy at Somerville, Alabama, and his tastes being in the direction of the law, from a boy of fifteen he stood on tiptoe, looking eagerly forward to the time when, as a man, he should take his place among men. In order to accomplish this cherished desire, he taught school several sessions, studying law in leisure hours. In April, 1859, he began practice in his native county, having been admitted to the bar by Judge John E. Moore. Although quite young when he com- meneed practice, he soon had a good clientage, but the war coming on, he at once joined his fortunes with those of the Confederacy.

He entered the Confederate service as first -lieutenant

in Clanton's celebrated First Alabama cavalry regiment, participated in the battle of Shiloh, and was there pro- moted to captain of company D, Clanton's regiment. After the evacuation of Corinth he was detached from the regiment, and, in connection with Capts. Roddy and Newsome, ordered to operate on Gen. Buell's con- neetions through North Alabama, over the Memphis and Charleston railroad. During the summer of 1862, and up to the time of the evacuation of North Ala- bama, these three companies harrassed the Federals at every point, captured two trains, over five hundred prisoners, over three hundred horses and mules, over two hundred wagons, and three hundred thousand rounds of fixed amunition, camp equipage, baggage, etc., effectually destroying the connections of the Federal army between Decatur and Corinth, for which they were complimented in a general order issued to the army. Next he participated in the battles of Iuka and Corinth, and in December, 1862, although only twenty- five years old, was promoted to the full rank of colonel

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and placed in command of the Fifth Alabama cavalry regiment.

In 1863, Col. Patterson operated in Middle Tennessee until the army fell back from Tullahoma, when he re- tired into North Alabama with his regiment. In the fall of 1863, just after the battle of Chickamauga, Col. Patterson crossed the Tennessee river, at what is known as the " Tow head," near Larkinsville, above Gunters ville, Alabama, and made a daylight attack on a force of between four hundred and five hundred Federal troops, stationed at Hunt's Mill, engaged in gathering in all the grain in that section and grinding it up for Rosecrans' army, which was then penned in at Chatta- nooga. Col. Patterson succeeded in surprising the enemy, completely routing them, capturing one hundred and fifty prisoners, all their horses, arms and munitions of war, and burnt the mill, making a clean sweep, and gaining a most brilliant little victory.

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 58

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