Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 60

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

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By her marriage with Dr. Smith eleven children, ten sons and one daughter, have been born, to-wit: (1). Millard MeFarland Smith, born September 15, 1851 ; married Miss Allie Hinckle ; has five children, Lo- thaire, Vala, Almonte, Vetury Esther, and graduated M.D., at Cincinnati, and is now practicing medicine in Hardeman county, Tennessee. (2). Chelius Cortes Smith, born February 21, 1853; died in infancy. (3). James Robley Smith, born April 8, 1855; died in infancy. (4). Richard Fillmore Smith, born October 4, 1856; now a farmer at Friendship; married Miss Alice Buckley, of Mifflin, Henderson county, Tennes- see ; has four children, Alice Irene, Gertrude, Orion and Richard. (5). John Devergie Smith, born Febru- ary 4, 1858; now a farmer ; married Miss Lina Warren, near Friendship, Tennessee, who died in February, 1884. (G). Benjamin Franklin Smith, born July 12, 1861 ; married Miss Izora Bond, Bell's Depot, Tennessee ; has one child. a daughter. (7). Julius Alexander Smith, born January 19, 1866, now reading medicine. (8). Wil- liam Thomas Smith, born December 26, 1868. (9). Lucy Elizabeth ( Bettie) Smith, born July 21, 1870. (10). Josiah Weightman Smith, born May 17, 1873. (11). Walter Scott Smith, born February 20, 1875; died in infiney.

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Dr. Smith began life on his own account at the age of seventeen, without patrimony, and in spite of the fre- quent buffets of fortune, is now in comfortable and independent circumstances, owning a fair amount of real estate in Dyersburg and vicinage. Up to ten years ago his financial career was a success in every respeet, for he was particular never to allow his ex- penses to exceed his income, but to live economically and save some of his earnings. But about 1875, in the kindness of his heart, he was induced to endorse for friends, by which he lost heavily-a warning a thousand times repeated in every generation, which should be given heed to by all readers who would be admonished for their own good. He has always been a close stu- dent; has zealously devoted his time to the study and practice of his profession ; has ever tried to systematize and store away in convenient form his fund of knowl- edge ; has ever avoided dissimulation ; lived the life of a plain, matter-of-fact man, and held sacred every trust committed to his care, and compromised no interest over which he has had charge. He has also been a liberal financial supporter of his church and of the charitable institutions of his county.

Personally, he is a very attractive gentleman. He stands five feet, ten inches high, has a large, round head, and a stout round body, no where presenting what is called an angular appearance. And his character and reputation, like his physical make-up, is that of a well- rounded man. In manners he is exceedingly affable,

and wins friends because he is the ideal family phy- sician.

Perhaps, however, the following from his friend and. medical partner, Dr. T. R. Moss, will best give an esti- mate of his character. Speaking of his medical ability, Dr. Moss says : " He is a man of extraordinary mind, He is to-day one of the most diligent of students, and judg- ing from the vast fund of knowledge of which he is the possessor, it is very plain that he has ever been studi- ous. He is a man of never-ceasing and untiring energy, and in a struggle, whether it be to solve a difficult problem, or unravel some mysterious subject, worthy of investigation, or to cure some old chronic case of ankle- joint disease, which demands wisdom, skill, patience and perseverance, long, long after others would have despaired and quitted the field, he is still to be seen, as - fresh and vigorous as when the struggle began, contend- ing for victory. He is a firm and faithful friend to the ; sick, whatsoever, be their troubles, and fortunate may one consider himself who, when stricken with some ter- rible malady or meets with some fearful injury, if he can call to his aid the wise counsel and steady hand of Dr. J. D. Smith. He never deserts or forsakes, but lends the best of his aid and skill during the most dan- gerous periods, and if it be the will of an all-wise Providence that his patient must go, then he can con- sole those who need consolation, and advise those who need advice, with that Christian spirit which should characterize every practitioner of medicine."

JAMES F. GRANT, M. D.

NASHVILLE.

T HIS eminent surgeon, whose medical record is among the most brilliant in Tennessee, was born of Scotch parentage, at Mulberry village, Lincoln county, Tennessee, in 1836, about three months after his pa- rents' arrival there from Scotland. His grandfather, James Grant, was a native Scotchman, and settled in Lincoln county about 1835.

Dr. Grant's mother is a native of Scotland, and is a stout, vigorous lady, of strong sense, of positive charac- ter and influence, yet, withal, a plain, practical woman,

Dr. Grant left home when only eleven years old, and did not return until fifteen years after, when he came back a full-fledged doctor. He carved out his own ca- reer. He was the architect of his own fortune. When he first left home he hired himself to James McCal- lum, of Pulaski, to drive a two-horse wagon at seven dollars per month. He stayed with Mr. McCallum one year, and then went on horseback to Oakland, Miss- issippi, and hired to Mr. J. Kuykendall to work on his farm a year at sixteen dollars a month. At this

time he could neither read nor write. Returning to Tennessee in 1850, for the next three years he attended a private school taught by Prof. Barber (formerly from Pennsylvania), at Bethany, in Giles county. Un- der this fine scholar and preceptor. he obtained a very good literary and classical education, but he had to work hard on Saturdays, and in the garden, evenings and mornings, to pay his board and save up enough to accomplish the ambition of his life-that of becom- ing a physician and surgeon. Through the kindness of Dr. Jesse Mayes, afterwards his father-in-law, he was finally enabled to go to Philadelphia to obtain his medical education. He spent five years in Philadelphia in perfecting his medical knowledge; two years he was under Dr. James M. Course and Dr. D. Hayes Agnew as his private preceptors in medicine; one year he spent in the Pennsylvania Marine Hospital, and two years he attended lectures at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating M. D. from that institution in 1856, under Professors Carson, Gibson, Rogers, Hodge and Leidy.

JAMES F. GRANT, M. D).

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After graduation he practiced medicine with consid- erable success in Giles county, Tennessee, from 1856 up to the breaking out of the war between the States, when he volunteered for the Confederacy as a private soldier, and went with the First Tennessee Confederate regiment to Virginia. Although but a mere youth, he was given one of the first commissions in the army as a regimental surgeon, and assigned to duty with Col. Cook's regiment, then at Camp Cheatham, Tennessee, He was present at the first important battle of the war, Bull Run, and at the last one, at Bentonville, North Carolina, having served through the entire four years of 'bloody conflict-most of the time with the Army of Tennessee. He was captured at Fort Donelson February 22, 1862, and kept six months on Johnson's Island, a prisoner of war. He served in Kentucky, Ten -. nessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and was present at the battles of Bull Run, Fort Donelson, Murfreesborough, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Cassville, New Hope Church, Rocky Face Gap, Kennesaw Mountain, Resaca, Atlanta, Jonesborough Franklin and Nashville. His service was exclusively in the field. He served two years as surgeon of Gen. John C. Brown's brigade; was temporarily surgeon of Breckinridge's division. He was next made assistant medical director of the Army of Tennessee, then medi- cal inspector of the Army of Tennessee. On the re- organization of the army in North Carolina, Gen. John C. Brown was placed in command of one of the divisions, and Dr. Grant gave up the position of medi- cal inspector of the Army of Tennessee, at the request of Gen. Brown, and was assigned to duty as chief' sur- geon of his division. Dr. Grant was among the first surgeons in the army who commenced the operation of resection instead of amputation, thereby preserving the limb, and for which scores, maybe hundreds, of hapless, mangled soldiers have blessed his name.

After the war Dr. Grant practiced medicine sixteen years at Pulaski, and in 1879 settled in a wider field at Nashville, where he has practiced ever since, from 1882 to the present time, associated part of the time with Dr. N. D. Richardson, whose sketch appears in another part of this volume.

In surgery Dr. Grant has performed almost every capital operation-lithotomy, strangulated hernia, cata- ract, ovariotomy, ligation of the principal arteries, sub- clavian and femoral, trephining, ete. He has made quite a reputation in orthopedic surgery. In 1876 he was a member of the International Medical Congress at Philadelphia. He is a member of the American Med- ical Association ; of the State Medical Society; of the Nashville Medical Society; of the Historical Society of Tennessee; is corresponding member of the Gymco- logical Society of Boston ; has been vice-president and president of the Tennessee Medical Society, and has oc . casionally, by invitation, lectured before the medical col. leges of Nashville, to fill the places of absent professors.

Dr. Grant is a born naturalist and mechanic, fond of experiments and original investigations, as the numer- ous wonderful and valuable specimens in his private cabinet abundantly show. His devotion to his profes- sion is absolute. Indeed, it amounts to enthusiasm. He studies questions closely. His papers on blood- letting, medical ethics, the influence of mercury on the biliary system, attracted marked attention from the most learned men in the medical fraternity. He not only loves his profession, but is a true friend to medical men, and takes great interest in their history. He has written the Medical History of Tennessee in Dr. J. B. Lindsley's "War History of Tennessee."

In 1868, Dr. Grant became an Odd Fellow, and 1872 a Knight of Pythias. He is also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and of the Red Men. He has always been a Democrat from early buy- hood.

Dr. Grant married in Giles county, Tennessee, Feb- ruary 18, 1858, Miss Julia Mayes, daughter of his old friend and patron, Dr. Jesse Mayes, a native of Rock- bridge county, Virginia, who settled in Pulaski about the year 1833. He was a soldier in the Florida war, and a surgeon in the Indian emigration, about 1837. He is a man of highly cultivated intellect, of true no- bility of character, a popular, standard man. He is now living at his country home in Giles county, at the age of seventy-one.

Mrs. Grant's paternal grandfather, Fletcher Mayes, was a Virginian. His wife was a Miss Hill, of the same family to which the celebrated Gen. A. P. Hill, of Virginia, belonged. Mrs. Grant's paternal uncle, Hill Mayes, was an engineer in Texas before Texas was a State. Her uncle, Johnson Mayes, was a prosperous merchant at Gonzales, Texas. Her only surviving paternal uncle, Fletcher H. Mayes, was for a number of years a member of the Virginia Legislature, and a member of Congress from Virginia, and is now living, eighty-nine years old, and in successful practice as a lawyer at Fincastle, in Botetourt county, Virginia. His son, Robert Mayes, is judge of the criminal court of Botetourt county, and is a man of remarkable genius.

Mrs. Grant's mother was Miss Mary E. Cook. Her maternal grandmother was a Miss Clay, a cousin of Henry Clay. Mrs. Grant's maternal great-grandfather, Cook, was a prominent German physician- a " Dutch doctor " -- who came to America from Holland. Mrs. Grant's only sister, Sarah, is now the wife of J. E. Morton, a large farmer in Giles county, Tennessee.

Mrs. Grant was educated at the Soule Female College, Murfreesborough, and is a lady remarkable for her glad, sympathetic nature, her bright, winsome, cheerful dis- position, and is among the most highly cultivated and intellectual ladies of the State. She is a member of the Methodist church, as is also Dr. Grant, though he is not a sectarian.

Dr. Grant is not a rich man, but is in comfortable

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circumstances. The natural impulses of his nature are to confer favors and gratify his friends, and the result is that he has had very many security debts to pay. By bis profession he has made over one hundred thousand dollars, but being a poor collector, never asking any man for money, even when due, and having a bound- less charity and overwhelming hospitality and generos- ity, he has not accumulated a large property. He is

said to be wholly unfitted for any business in the world except medicine. He is actively absorbed in his pro- fession ; charitable to the limit ; entirely forgetful of self where others are concerned ; a firm, true friend ; a vigorous hater of his enemies; warm-hearted and im- pulsive ; generous to prodigality.

As a physician and surgeon, he stands in the front rank of the medical men of the South.

DR. J. HI. HOWELL, M. D.

BROWNSVILLE.

D R. J. H. HOWELL was born in Greensborough, Alabama, October 11, 1824. When about five years of age, his father moved to Haywood county. Ten- nessee, and there he was brought up on a farm and taught to do all manner of farm work. He went to school in the old field schools, and his teachers were Maj. Thomas Owen and Dr. Elijah Slack. His father was a physician, and through his example and influence, the son was led to choose medicine as his own life-work and profession. In 1841, he entered the Medical Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1844. He then located at Brownsville, met with fine success, built up a large practice, and remained there until the war came on. In 1863, he went to Memphis and engaged in merchandising with Nixon, Wood & Co. Here he re- mained for six years, and not having been prosperous in his mercantile life, returned to his profession, going back to Brownsville in 1869. From that time on he has been very successful in his calling, and has built up and enjoyed a very extensive and lucrative practice. When Brownsville was desolated by an epidemic of yellow fever in 1878, he was one of the few physicians who re- mained there and bravely fought it, and was himself' taken down with the fever, though he had previously suffered from an attack of that dreadful disease while living in Memphis, in 1873.

Dr. Howell has been a faithful, conscientious worker, and a close student in the field of medicine, since he first adopted it as a profession. He has passionately loved it, not only for the sake of science, but on account of the great good he was thus enabled to do for his suf- fering fellow mortals. He began life with nothing but his education, yet, by his own individual efforts, had amassed a handsome property when the late civil war began. Much of his means was invested in slave prop- erty, hence was swept away by the results of that war,

and when-he resumed practice in 1869, he did so with an unconquerable determination to build himself up, and has been steadily succeeding.

Dr. Howell was raised an old line Whig. When the war came on he was a Union man, and since then has voted with the Republican party. He has, however, taken no active part in politics, and though often solic- ited, has always refused to become a candidate for any political office.

He was made a Mason at Brownsville, in 1846; has taken all the degrees of the order up to and including Royal Arch Masonry, and has held most of the offices of the subordinate lodge. He is a charter member of Ivan- hoe Lodge, No. 14, Knights of Pythias, and is now holding the office of Chancellor Commander.

Dr. Howell's father, Dr. William Howell, who was born in 1801. and died in ISH, was a native of East Tennessee. He practiced medicine very successfully at Greensborough, Alabama, for several years, and then moved to Brownsville and engaged in farming, contin- uing also the practice of his profession, in which he achieved considerable prominence. The Howell family is of English descent.

Dr. Howell's mother was Miss Sarah Jane Bell, daughter of John Bell, a prominent citizen of North Carolina in Revolutionary times. She is a sister of Commodore Henry Bell and of Gen. William Bell. Her mother was Miss Haywood, daughter of Judge John Haywood, one of the Supreme judges of Tennessee.

Dr. Howell was married, in December, 1845, to Miss Virginia L. Scott, daughter of Robert Scott, a native of Virginia, who moved to Haywood county, Tennessee, in 1833, and became a large and successful farmer.

Dr. and Mrs. Howell are both members of the Bap- tist church. Their only child, a daughter, died of yel- low fever in 1878.

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JAMES D. RICHARDSON.

MURFREESBOROUGH.

O NE of the ablest. as well as one of the most promising, men of his age in Tennessee, either as lawyer, politician, parliamentarian and statesman, is the brilliant and distinguished gentleman whose name heads this sketch -- Mr. James D. Richardson, of Murfrees borough. Hle was born in Rutherford county, Tennes- see, March 10, 1813. After attending Central Academy from the age of six to seventeen, he entered Franklin College, near Nashville, under President Tolbert Fan- ning, and studied there one year.

The civil war broke out and young Richardson, at the age of eighteen, at once volunteered as a private in the Confederate service, joining Mitchell's (afterwards Sear- cy's) company, Forty-fifth Tennessee regiment of in- fantry. In this regiment he served as a private till the battle of Shiloh, when he was made adjutant-major of the regiment, and filled that position till the surren- der at Bentonville, North Carolina. He served in the campaigns in Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ala- bama, Georgia and Louisiana, taking part in the battles of Shiloh, Vicksburg, Baton Rouge, Murfreesborough Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge; and the battles of the Johnson and Sherman campaign, in which he was wounded at Resaca, by a minnie ball, through the left arm, which, for some time, disabled him for service. He wore his arm in a sling up to the surrender. Two of the fingers of his left hand appear noticeably drawn and cannot be straightened, as the result of this wound, but making only a slight disfigurement.

In 1865, he married, before the surrender, and in the same year just after the surrender, wad law with Judge Thomas Frazier, was admitted to the bar by judges Frazier and Henry Cooper, in 1866, and commeneed practice at Murfreesborough, for twelve years as a partner with Gen. Joseph B. Palmer, and since that time as a partner with his younger brother, John E. Richardson, the firm style being James D. & Jomm E. Richardson.

Iu polities, Mr. Richardson is a reformed Whig. being a descendant of an old line Whig who never went into any of the " isms." Not being old enough to vote in the days of the Whig party, he has never cast any but a Democratic vote.

In 1870, he was elected to the Legislature from Ruth- erford county, and on the assembling of that body, was elected speaker of the House, being then about twenty- eight years old, probably the youngest speaker in the history of the State. In 1873, he was elected State senator from the counties of Rutherford and Bed ford, and in the senate was a member of the judiciary committee. Like Henry Clay, of Kentucky, he was elected by his people before constitutionally of age. In

1876. he was a delegate to the national Democratic convention at St. Louis, which nominated Samuel J. Tilden for president. As a political speaker, he has canvassed almost every portion of the State, electrifying the Democracy with his superb oratory, his brilliant eloquence, his graceful mastery of forensic arts, while at every State convention of the party held within the past fifteen years, the towering figure of the " tall cedar of' Rutherford " has risen above the storms of party and commanded attention as few other men in the State are able to do.

In 1884, in the nominating convention held at Tulla - homa to select a Democratic candidate for Congress from the Fifth congressionakdistrict of Tennessee, after a stormy session of several days, the convention enthu- viastically united on Maj. Richardson as their standard- bearer, and at the ensuing election he defeated his op- ponent by a handsome majority, and at the writing of this volume is serving his admiring constituency at Washington.

Mr. Richardson became a Mason in October, 1867, in Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 18, at Murfreesborough, and has been in one or another Masonic office ever since. He has taken all the degrees of ancient craft Masonry, Knight Templar, and Scottish Rite, to the thirty-third inclusive, is now the active member for this Rite in Ten- nessee, and has been Master, High Priest, Illustrious Master and Eminent Commander of the Commandery, and for ten years filled the latter station. In 1873, he was Grand Master of Masons of the State, and in 1883, Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of the State, and has delivered various Masonic addresses over the State on invitation. He delivered the address be- fore the Grand Lodge in 1872. His most famous Ma- sonic speech was his enlogy on the life and character of Hon, Robert L. Caruthers, delivered before the Grand Lodge in 1883. He has been, for many years, chairman of the Masonic committee on jurisprudence. He is the author of' a handsome volume, entitled "Tennessee Templars," two hundred and fifty pages, illustrated with steel engravings of some nineteen of the most eminent Masons in the State.

Mr. Richardson married in Greene county, Alabama, January 18, 1865, Miss Alabama Pippen, a native of that county, born the daughter of Eldred Pippen, a large cotton planter, originally from North Carolina. He died when the daughter was twelve years old. Her people are mostly planters. Her brother, Eldred D. Pippen, was a member of Fowler's battery from Tusca- loosa, and fell in the battle of Chickamauga. Her brother, Samuel C. Pippen, is a planter and stock dealer in Phillips county, Arkansas Mrs. Richardson

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was educated at the Howard Institute, at Tuscaloosa, and Judson Institute, Marion, Alabama. By his mar- riage with Miss Pippen, Maj. Richardson has five chil- dren : (1). Annie, born November 21, 1865, graduated at Murfreesborough Female Institute, (2). Ida, born May 3, 1867, graduated 1881, at the same college. (3). Allie, born November 6, 1869. (1). John W., born April 27, 1872, died November 19, 1873. (5). James D. jr., born January 4, 1875.

Mr. Richardson joined the Christian church while at Franklin College, and is now a deacon in that church. His wife is a member of the same communion, as is also his daughter, Miss Annie. Mr. Richardson is a progressive man in all his habits of thought, and would favor a re-statement of theologies and creeds.

Mr. Richardson began business life on a good inher- itance and acquired a fair estate by his marriage, which he has added to by his professional fees, having been exceptionally successful, as his practice has always been very heavy. He has the reputation of being a hard worker, without having any special object in view be- yond the discharge of the day's duties. With the very many irons he has had in the fire, he could hardly form a systematic method, but by dint of constant application of time, energy and ability, he has taken care of them all and neglected nothing. Polities, Masonry, the law, di- vide his attention. The enterprises of his town have commanded much of his time. He has been president, director and treasurer of the fair association of his county; was director of the Stones River National Bank, and is now a director of the Safe Deposit, Trust and Banking company of Nashville.

Mr. Richardson is descended of Scotch stock. His grandfather, James Richardson, was a native Virginian, who moved, in 1815, to Rutherford county, and settled lived and died there a farmer. His son, Dr. John W. Richardson, father of the subject of this sketch, was boru in Charlotte, Virginia, November 23. 1809. gradu ated in medicine at Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, in 1830. He married, in 1833, and lived at Old Jefferson, in Rutherford county, till 1811, when he settled where he died, on a farm eight miles from Mur- freesborough. He practiced medicine from the time of his graduation till his death, November 19, 1872. In religion, he was a member of the Christian church from about 1835, and his whole life was characterized by religious devotion. He was a trustee of Franklin College, and helped to sustain the educational and be- nevolent enterprises of his denomination. In politics, he was an old line Whig, and was a member of the lower House of the Tennessee Legislature in 1813, 1815, 1817, 1849, 1851 and 1857, and of the State senate in 1853 and 1859. He was a political speaker of great force, though not considered an eloquent orator. His manner was impressive, persuasive and convincing, and he was, during all his active life, the leader of his party in his county, so great was the public confidence

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 60

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