USA > Tennessee > Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee > Part 61
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in his wisdom and integrity. He had the reputation of being the best manager in the Whig ranks in the State, Ile published many pamphlets on political, medical and religious subjects. His last production was an essay on puerperal convulsions, read before the State Medical, Society, of which he had been president two or more times. He was a very modest man ; was several times voted for for speaker when his party was in the minority in the Legislature, and so he was not elected. He was a thoroughly practical man, quiet in his manner, firm in his principles and character, not given to saying things hard of any one, temperate and methodical in. his habits, and had among his personal friends who visited him, such men as John Bell, Meredith P. Gentry, James C. Jones, John Marshall, F. K. Kollicoffer, Tol- bert Fanning and many others of the most eminent men of the State in antebellum times. He was kind hearted, affectionate, and his children regarded him with a reverence tikin to awe. He led a busy life, and notwithstanding losses by the war, left some forty thousand dollars to his children. He was an ardent Union man and never consented to the Confederate movement till the war began, when he told his friends, " We must defend ourselves." He was a man of clear- ness, dignity and simplicity of character, No man was freer from making a display. There was no affectation about him.
Mr. Richardson's mother, Augusta Mary Starnes, a sister of Hon. E. Starnes, judge of the Supreme court of Georgia, and a cousin of the late Gen. J. W. Starness of Williamson county, of Confederate cavalry fame, is the daughter of Daniel Starues, of Georgia, who died in 1817, when she was only two years old. Her pater- nal ancestry was of Scotch-Irish descent. Mr. Rich- ardsou's mother is now living with her son at Mur- freesborough. Mr .. Richardson's only brother, John E. Richardson. born January. 1857, is his law partner. His oldest sister, Susan W., is the widow of Col. John J. Jolly, colonel of the Forty-third Alabama regiment, who died in 1852. His sister, Mary, married John B. Batey, a farmer in Rutherford county. His oldest brother. William T. Richardson, was a physician of much prominence, who entered the Confederate army and died in 1862. He was a graduate of Franklin Col- lege and of the medical department of the University of Nashville.
During Mr. Richardson's congressional candidacy, in 1884, the Shelbyville Gazette contained the following well merited estimate of his character: " Mr. Rich- ardson is no stranger to the people of this congressional district, nor, in fact to the people of this State, as he has been prominently connected with the politics of Tennessee from his early manhood, and has already won for himself a State reputation. When quite a young man, he was triumphantly elected a member of the House of Representatives of our Legislature, by the people of his native county, and although it was his
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first experience in public life, he was honored with the position of speaker, being elected over the Ilon. An- drew B. Martin, of Wilson, after a spirited contest, which position he filled with signal ability, presiding with such grace, dignity and impartiality as to secure to him high rank among the best parliamentarians of. the land. ITis constituents, being so well satisfied with his course during his first term, promoted him to a seat in the senate of the next General Assembly, electing him by a handsome majority over two of the most popular citizens of his county. During this session, by his close application to business, untiring energy and com- manding influence, he soon became one of the leaders of the senate, and did much towards shaping the legis- lation of that General Assembly. The brief political career of this distinguished gentleman has clearly illus- trated two things: That he has natural gifts, as a pre-
siding officer, possessed by but few men, and that as a legislator, he is faithful, honest and capable. So that if the people of this district should confide their inter- ests to his hands in the next Congress of the United States, they can draw assurances from his past faithful services as a public servant, that he will be eminently conscientious in the discharge of his trust."
Judge E. H. East, of Nashville, in speaking of Mr. Richardson, said: " He is a reliable, safe, conscien- tious lawyer; stands high in his profession ; is endowed with unusually attractive powers of personal address and polish of style; is gentle and undemonstrative in his manners, and entirely sincere-his forte before a jury is his sincerity. He is of a kindly, generous na- ture, dignified and elegant, without the least, trace of arrogance or affectation, and without haughtiness of character of manner."
WILLIAM L. NICHOL, M. D.
MISHIVILLE.
C OMPARAATIVELY few men rise to eminence on their native heath. The transplanting process is not less successful with the human species than in the lower natural kingdoms, and the young man of lofty ambition, upon attaining his majority, usually concludes that it is better to escape the besetting conditions and occurrences of his youthful period and take his chances in a new field of enterprise. The old saying that "a prophet is not without honor save in his own country " applies with peculiar force to the young man who un- dertakes to rise to professional distinction in the com- munity where the days of his boyhood have been spent. In such case success can spring only from genuine merit. No false veneering, however plausible, can avail to win it.
The subject of this sketch, Dr. William L. Nichol, has achieved his success in the town of his nativity, literally growing up with the city and holding his place in the front rank of its citizens and in the highest grade of his profession. . If, like most others, he had com mitted his share of youthful follies; he boldly faced them and lived them down.
The oldest inhabitant of Nashville at this time. can scarcely remember when the name of Nichol was not closely associated with the success and material pros- perity of the city. The grandfather of Dr. Nichol came from Ireland. He settled at King's Sah Works Chow Saltville), in southern Virginia, where he married. Sub- sequently, he became a wholesale merchant in Knox- ville, where, for several years, he carried on a successful business, Thence he removed to Nashville, where he ' soon became a leading commercial man. His business qualifications were of a very high order. They soon attracted the attention of President Andrew Jackson .
than whom there was no better judge of men-who ap- pointed him to the presidency of a branch of the United States Bank at Nashville. He continued successful in business until his retirement, and died, leaving a handsome patrimony to his children.
William Nichol, the father of Dr. Nichol, was born at. King's Salt Works, Virginia, in the year 1800. He removed, when quite young, with his parents to Knox- ville, and thence to Nashville, where he grew to man- hood under the excellent business training of his father. He married, in Rutherford county, Miss Julia Lytle (now living in Nashville at the age of seventy- four), daughter of William Lytle, a farmer, originally from North Carolina, where he served in the Revolu- tionary war as captain. He amassed a large fortune by land speculations in Rutherford aud adjoining counties.
William Nichol, at the time of his father's death, was already a well equipped business man, the peer of any in Nashville. Among the incidents of his training, illustrating the street methods of his father, it is related that, on one occasion, according to the modes of travel in those days, he made a sixteen days' horseback jour- ney to Baltimore to make purchases for the house ; but it was discovered. on his return. that he had neglected to purchase a certain article that had been set down in his list. His father started him back to Baltimore the next morning to get it, which he did, thereby acquiring a lesson which made a life-impression. He was long a most successful merchant, and was for a time a partner of Harry Hill, the famous New Orleans merchant, with whom it is said he never had any written articles of partnership. He was at one time mayor of Nashville. He served for many years with conspicuous ability as president of the State Bank of Tennessee, and wound
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up his active business career as a planter in Davidson county, besides carrying on a plantation in Arkansas. He died at his residence near Nashville, in 1878.
Dr. William L. Nichol was born in Nashville, Ten- nessee, October 8, 1828. He was educated in the University of Nashville, graduating in 1815, and re- ceiving his literary degree at the hands of President Philip Lindsley. After a three years' course of study he was graduated in medicine in 1819, from the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, then under charge of Profs. Jack - son, Horner, Wood, Hodge and Chapman. He was a private pupil of Dr. W. W. Gerhard. After gradua- tion, he was, in 1819, elected resident physician of the Philadelphia Hospital and Almshouse, where he re- mained about eighteen months, and then entered the United States Navy as assistant surgeon. Under orders from the navy department, he joined the Pacific ex- ploring expedition under Commodore Ringgold, and served in that expedition over the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, visiting China, Japan, Capetown and Australia. In 1856, on account of ill health, he re- signed in San Francisco, returned to Nashville and entered upon a course of private practice, which he continued till the breaking out of the war, when he entered the Confederate service as surgeon and served through the entire war, first as regimental surgeon, then as brigade surgeon, and, lastly, as surgeon in charge at various hospital posts.
The war over, he returned to private practice. In 1868, he was elected to fill the chair of diseases of the chest and clinical medicine in the University of Nash- ville. In 1870. he was transferred to the chair of materia medica and therapeutics, and, again, in 1874, to the chair of obstetrics. Upon the establishment of the chair of diseases of women and children, he was elected to fill that place, which he ow holds. From 1869 to 1874 he was in partnership with the celebrated surgeon, Dr. W. T. Briggs (whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume). For several years, between 1866 and 1873, he was editor in chief of the Nashville Medical and Surgical Journal, discharging the duties of the posi- tion with marked ability and to the great satisfaction of the profession. He is a member of the city and State medical societies,
As to his personal life, Dr. Nichol has been thrive mar- ied. He first married in Nashville, 1858, Henrietta, daughter of Sterling R. Coekrill, a planter, now at Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Her mother was Ann H. McDonald, daughter of Col. Me Donald, of the United States army, a resident of New Orleans. By this marriage, Dr. Nichol has one child, Henry, born April 26, 1859. Mrs. Nichol died in 1859, at the birth of her son. In 1864 Dr. Nichol married Ella, daughter of John Fackler, of Huntsville, Alabama, and. by this marriage has a daughter, Bessie, born in Cuthbert, Georgia, 1865, who graduated from Ward's Seminary in 1882. The second Mrs. Nichol died in 1868. His third marriage was with
Mrs. Martha DeBow, widow of the late J. D. B. De- Bow, the distinguished editor of the once well-known periodical, De Boy's Review. She is the daughter of the late John Johns, a successful farmer of Davidson county. She is a lady of queenly presence and man- ners, representing the classic style of female beauty. in its loveliest type, yet she is no less conspicuous in so- ciety for the uniform display of those refined virtues which are, at once, the guarantees and the ornaments of noble womanhood. She is not only the light of the social circle, but home is always the brighter for her presence. Mrs. Nichol is a member of the Missionary Baptist church. The result of the third marriage is one son, William L., born at Nashville, July 5, 1872.
Dr. Nichol's devotion to his profession has been al- most absolute. He chose to dedicate himself to its labors and its-duties at a time when it was fashionable for the "sons of rich men," as he then was, to pass through the forms of a collegiate education, to gain a smattering of the classies, and cram their heads with as many excerpts from the poets as their memories would bear, perhaps obtain a professional degree by way of personal ornament, and rely upon the father's ex- chequer for support. Dr. Nichol might have made himself that style of man and been an elegant gentle- man in his day, " for a' that." But there is an activity -- a restless energy in his very nature, that, from boy- hood, has rendered a state of " elegant case " an impos- sibility in his life. At quite an early day the desire to become a physician became the ruling ambition of his life. He began' his professional studies at the age of seventeen, and before he was twenty-one he had gradu- ated and entered upon his life duties and business. To the practice of medicine he dedicated his life, and, if the expression be allowable, he has been true to his professional vows. He has always been fully alive to the duties of citizenship, and taken a lively interest in whatever concerned the welfare of the community. He has ever been a man of positive political convictions- first a Whig, then and now a Democrat -- - but he has never allowed himself to be tempted from the true course of his professional career. Few men have been more successful than he in the practice of medicine- none more prompt and accurate as a diagnostician. In the lecture room he is perfectly at home. His method in the treatment of' his subjects is thoroughly and severely analytrical, and his own enthusiasm inspires zeal on the part of his classes in their investigations. He is schol- arly in his profession, yet he scorns all pedantic show in the lecture-room. He is fluent without verbosity, and copious without redundancy. He is apt in illustration, and frequently indulges in appropriate anecdote ; yet all mere superfluity is rigidly discarded. To impress his own idea upon his students seems to be his chief ambi- tion, and this he usually succeeds in accomplishing. Dr. Nichol is yet comparatively young, and it is safe to say that further professional honors await him
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HION. ANDREW B. MARTIN, LL.D.
LEBANON.
THE life-history of this eminent and very excellent gentleman presents one of the most interesting sketches in this volume, and should be an incentive to the perseverance and ambition of young Tennesseans who may encounter obstacles in the pathway of their fortunes.
Andrew B. Martin was born at Trousdale's Ferry, Smith county, Tennessee, the son of Dr. Matthew Mar- tin, a native of Barren county, Kentucky, who was the son of Edward Martin, of Virginia, of English parent- age. . Dr. Martin died at the age of forty-nine, leaving three sons, Robert P., Andrew B. and Monroe; and five daughters, Fannie, Susan, Margaret, Lavinia and Re- becca, Andrew B. being the sixth child.
Andrew B. Martin's mother, nee Miss Matilda Crow who died in 1876, was born in 1804, in Ireland, daugh- ter of Jane Crow, ace Porter. She was a lady of culture for her times, and was noted for her vigorous mind, practical turn and energy. Her first husband was Wil- liam Walton, of Smith county, Tennessee, by whom she had four daughters, Sarah, Penelope, Matilda and Mary.
His education was obtained under very embarrassing circumstances. He attended common schools until the death of his father, which occurred in 1849, but shortly after that event, it became necessary for him to take care of himself, and, acting upon this necessity, he left home with thirteen dollars in money, which he had earned by working in a brickyard. Having never been from home before, circumstances directed him to Lebanon Tennessee, where he was wholly unknown, but where, although ouly fifteen years of age, his manly manners and his straightforward way of acting, soon secured for him a clerkship in a drug store. This business was distasteful to him, but it was the only thing that was open. He took hold of it, however, with the well de- fined purpose in his mind to some day become a lawyer. Perhaps the legal atmosphere that surrounds the place stimulated his ambition; perhaps it was destiny that directed him thither, However that may be, it was up-hill work with him for a while, but still the ambi- tious boy persevered, and he held his position for five years, pursuing at odd intervals a course of study, and thus completing a fair academic education -his stud- ies being directed by the curriculum of Cumberland University, with the students of which institution he was thrown in daily contact. In 1856, without having added anything to his finances, but largely to his expe- rience and knowledge of the ways of the world, he entered the law school of Cumberland University, paying his way as best he could by labor performed at night and on Saturdays, as book keeper for two or more
business houses in Lebanon. At length, after studying in the university two years, he graduated in June, 1858, receiving his diploma from those eminent jurists and legal educators, Judges Abram Caruthers and Nathan Green, sr. and jr. When he had completed his course in the law he had neither money nor books, but had made many friends, and had met with nothing to seri- ously discourage a brave young fellow in his purpose to conquer success. Shortly after graduation, he became a candidate for attorney-general of the Seventh judicial circuit, but was defeated, being second, however, in the race against some twelve or more candidates. The time taken up by his canvass and the excitement at that period, just preceding the war, prevented him from meeting with any marked success in the practice of the law.
On May 20, 1861, he enlisted in Capt. John K. How- ard's company (II), which afterwards became a part of Col. Robert Hatton's Seventh Tennessee Confederate infantry regiment He was elected lieutenant in the company. He remained in the regiment until Col. Hlat- ton became brigadier-general, when he was made ad- jutant-general on Gen. Hatton's staff-a position very pleasing to both gentlemen, as they had been intimate personal friends for many years, Mr. Martin being a special favorite of Gen. Hatton's from boyhood. Mr. Martin served in Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina; participated in the bat- tles of Cheat Mountain and the Roumey expeditions in the early part of the war; afterwards at Seven Pines, Murfreesborough, Tullahoma, Chickamauga, Resaca, Dalton and Kennesaw Mountain. When the lines of battle were drawn around Atlanta, Mr. Martin was sent on detached service with Wheeler's cavalry, which made a raid in rear of the enemy, passing through the State of Tennessee, Mr. Martin serving on this raid as adju- tant-general on the staff of Gen. George G. Dibrell. After this he was transferred to the staff of Gen. Joseph Wheeler, and continued with that commander until the close of the war, participating in the last battle at Bentonville, North Carolina, and surrendering at Char- lotte, North Carolina, in April, 1865.
After the surrender Mr. Martin returned to his home at Lebanon, and resumed the practice of law, but he was still without funds and had to borrow money to buy clothing to take the place of his Confederate jeans. His determination to succeed as a lawyer was still in- shaken. The condition of the country was favorable to litigation, and his gallant record during the war recom- mended him to the favorable consideration of the people of his county, and, as a consequence, practice began to set in in his direction. He formed a partnership with
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Maj. (now Judge) William 11. Williamson, which con- tinued six years, or until Maj. Williamson was elected to a judgeship.
Mr. Martin married at Murfreesborough, Tennes- see, May 6, 1868, Miss Alice Ready, daughter of Col. Charles Ready, an eminent lawyer, and for many years a member of Congress from that district. Her mother, nce Miss Martha Strong, was a daughter of Dr. Strong, of East Tennessee. Mrs. Martin's sister, nce Miss Mattie Ready, first married Gen. John H. Morgan, the celebrated Confederate cavalry chieftain, and is now the wife of Judge William H1. Williamson, of Lebanon, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Martin's brother, Col. Horace Ready, who commanded the Twenty-third Tennessee Confederate infantry regi- ment, is now a lumber merchant in Florida.
Mrs. Martin graduated from Patapsco Institute, Maryland, in 1860, and is distinguished for conservatism of sentiment upon all subjects, strong and vigorous in- tellectuality, and for her extensive reading. She is a lady of unusual intellectual culture. Indeed, few women have read more or read more profitably than she. Her father being a man of wealth and high social position, she had the advantages of Washington society, and of mingling with the most intellectual people of the country, attracted to her side, not alone by her pro- nounced beauty, but by all the graces that make a beautiful woman attractive. Higher and better than all, she is a Christian woman in all the walks of life, and her husband credits her with having made him a better man and helped him in every way. She has the reputation of being exceptionally well-balanced-never saying indisereet things or doing foolish ones. She is a cousin of Gen. William T. Haskell, his mother being her father's sister. Gen. Haskell was one of the most brilliantly eloquent orators Tennessee ever produced.
By his marriage with Miss Ready, Mr. Martin has had six children, the first two of whom, Alice and Ella Love, died in infancy. The surviving children are Mary, Martha, Andrea and Helen,
In politics Mr. Martin was originally i Whig, but since the war has been in full accord with the Demo- cratic party. In 1871, he was elected to the Legislature from Wilson county, and served as chairman of the judiciary committee of the House, in which capacity he made a reputation over the State. He was a delegate to the national Democratic convention at Baltimore, in 1872, and at St. Louis, in 1876, casting his vote in the former for Horace Greeley (under instructions), and in the latter for Gen. Hancock. In 1880, he. was Demo- cratic elector for the State at large on the Hancock ticket, and canvassed the State, adding greatly to his reputation as an effective speaker.
In July, 1878, he was elected professor of law in Cumberland University, a position he has filled ever since. In 1883, he was elected by the literary societies of Lincoln University, Illinois, to deliver the com- mencement address. It was on this occasion that the trustees and faculty of that university conferred upon him the degree of LL. D.
Mr. Martin became a Master Mason in 1861, has taken all the Chapter, Council and Commandery de- grees, has served as Master, King, High Priest, Eminent Commander, Generalissimo and Prelate, and in 1870 delivered the address at the meeting of the Grand Lodge in Nashville.
Mr. Martin and his wife are members of the Cum- berland Presbyterian church, of which he is a ruling elder. In 1883, he was a delegate to the general as- sembly of the church at Nashville.
Thus honors have clustered thick about the brow of this man, who started out in life a poor and friendless boy. But his record only shows that determination and purpose, backed by a good character and standing in society, and the use of honorable means, are almost sure to achieve vicotry. He has never drifted nor lived aimlessly, but has had a purpose which he has sedu- ously followed, and after all, it is strong will power, guided by "conscience, that works out an honorable destiny.
BENJAMIN W. USSERY, M.D.
CLARKSVILLE.
TI HIIS gentleman is a native of Montgomery county, Tennessee, and was born July 21, 1829. He grew up in the same county, and received his literary educa- tion, first at the school of Prof. John T. Richardson, and afterwards at the Masonic College (now the South- western Presbyterian University), at Clarksville. Before graduating he began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. A. D. Cage, Clarksville, and from there went to Philadelphia and studied in the office of the celebrated Dr. William E. Horner, professor of anatomy in the
University of Pennsylvania. After spending two years at that institution, he graduated in April, 1853, receiv- ing his diploma and the degree of M. D. from Profs. William D. Horner, William Gibson, George B. Woods, Joseph Carson, Hugh L. Hodge, Robert E. Rogers and Samuel Jackson. The intervals between sessions were spent at the Pennsylvania and Wills Hospitals. He returned to Montgomery county July, 1853, and for the five following years practiced medicine with pronounced success, his practice being both large and lucrative.
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