Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 68

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 68

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Dr. Howell, her father, was born in Wayne county, North Carolina, March 10, 1801; died at Nashville, April 5, 1867, and was followed to the grave by an immense concourse of his fellow-citizens, who respected, loved and venerated him. He was one of the most re- markable ministers of his times. In his pulpit, whether praying or preaching, he was a magnificent man, of varied and profound learning, and of deep and un- doubted piety. In his style of oratory, he was a man to whom one had to listen with his eyes. No man of his day in Tennessee did so much to increase the num- bers of the Baptist denomination, to make it respec- table, or to elevate the standard of ministerial educa- tion. An evidence of Dr. Howell's personal popularity is found in the fact that he performed the marriage ceremony for five hundred and forty-six couples, He was, for forty years, a distinguished divine in Virginia and Tennessee, and was the most celebrated Baptist preacher in the South. He was also the author of a number of valuable works. One of his published vol- umes, "Terms of Communion," went through several editions in the United States and four in Great Britain. Besides a number of pamphlet addresses on various oc- casions, he was the author of " The Deaconship," " The ('ross," " The Covenants," " The Way of Salvation," "Evils of Infant Baptism," and " The Early Baptists of Virginia," standard denominational works. One of his unpublished works, "The Christology of the Pen- tateuch," may yet be given to the public.

Mrs. Nelson's oldest brother. Alfred T. Howell, is now a lawyer near Granberry, Hood county, Texas. Her brother, Hon. Morton B. Howell, a lawyer at Nashville, was formerly clerk and master in chancery, and mayor of Nashville in 1874, and is a gentleman of much culture and fine literary attainments. Her brother, Robert 11. Howell, for a long time a leading publisher, is now secretary of the Oman & Stewart Stone company. Her brother, Joseph T. Howell, is cashier of the Fourth National Bank, Nashville. Her sister, Jennie Howell, is now wife of Rev. Dr. D. W. Gwin, pastor of the First Baptist church, Atlanta, Georgia. Her sister, Anna Howell, is now wife of Dr.

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Frank Hollowell, physician in charge of the Nashville Medical Hospital. Her sister, Serena Howell, is now wife of Andrew J. Grigsby, business manager of the Nashville Spirit of the Farm, an agricultural journal. Prof. C. H. Toy, of Harvard College, is a cousin to Mrs. Nelson.

Mr. Nelson's paternal ancestry is of English extrac- tion. His grandfather, Berryman Nelson, was, however, born in Virginia, was a farmer and a patriot soldier in the Revolutionary war. Mr. Nelson's father, Daniel Nelson, was a native of Virginia, married in North Carolina, moved to Jefferson county, East Tennessee, and there followed his occupation as a millwright and farmer. He died, in 1856, at the age of fifty five. He was a Baptist and a Whig. He had an extreme fond- ness for the science of mineralogy, and went one trip with the celebrated Dr. Gerard Troost, State geologist, on his exploring trip through East Tennessee, in order to gratify his taste in that direction, and was of much service to Dr. Troost on account of his knowledge of the country and its minerals. He left but little prop- erty, and the son has humorously remarked, " he had the honor of being born poor and has kept his inher- itance."

Mr. Nelson's mother, nee Miss Dorcas Howard Ellis, was born in Iredell county, North Carolina, daughter of Jonathan Ellis, of an educated, prosperous family. Among her relatives, was Hon. Vespasian Ellis, form- erly United States consul to Venezuela, and Gov. Ellis, of North Carolina. She died in Iowa, at the age of sixty-two. She was a well educated lady, and the son owes his first love of learning to her, though she found

within him an ambition for knowledge and for being good from earliest childhood.

Rev. William A. Nelson, D. D., of Raleigh, North Carolina, is a brother of Mr. Anson Nelson. His brother, Rev. Daniel B. Nelson, is a retired minister in Henderson county, North Carolina. His brother, Maj. John Howard Nelson, is a farmer at Farmerville, Union parish, Louisiana. Another brother, HI. H. Nelson, of Richland, Towa, is one of the three, super- visors of Keokuk county, lowa, and still another brother, Samuel E. Nelson, is a farmer at Delta, Keo-2 kuk county, Iowa. Of his sisters, Eliza Nelson died. the wife of Mr. Stone, at Bloomington, Illinois, leaving two children; and Mary Nelson died in Iowa, wife of Mr. Stone, leaving four children.

In personal appearance, Mr. Nelson may be described as of medium height, erect figure, compactly built, and weighing about one hundred and forty-five pounds. A study of his portraitsshows a projecting brow, keenness of perception, and a forehead corrugated with the lines of earnest thought. His expression is that of in- tentness, as if following Solomon's advice, "Let thine eyes look right on, and thine eyelids straight before thee." One would at once proclaim him a man of fixed purpose and dignity of character. Financially, he has been a fair success for a man who seems never to have " made haste to be rich," or even to covet a large estate. When he first entered public office he adopted for his motto, " A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches," and this has greatly influenced his life, and, in turn, the influence of such a man must and will survive him for generations.

HON. D. W. C. SENTER.

MORRISTOWN.

E X-GOV. DEWITT CLINTON SENTER, was born in Rhea county, Tennessee, March 26, 1832, the son of Hon. William T. Senter, who, although a slave holder, taught his son to look upon slavery as a misfortune and wrong in principle. Young Senter grew up, from the age of ten to twenty-one, on a farm in Grainger county, going to the neighboring country schools when they were in session. He attended Straw- berry Plains College ten months, in 1851-2. He com- menced reading law at home, in 1852, under the instruc- tion of Hon. T. W. Turley, but had only read in a desultory sort of way about a year, when he was elected, in his twenty-third year, to represent Grainger county in the Legislature. He served not only that term, but by successive re-elections, in every Legislature up to 1861.

Hle was a stanch Union man, as were many of our best citizens among the liberty-loving mountaineers,

and in the spring of 1862, was arrested by the Confeder- ate authorities and made the grand southern tour, as a political prisoner, for about six months. Returning home and remaining about twelve months, he went into Kentucky, and remained there until quiet was par- tially restored in East Tennessee, by Federal occupation.

After the reorganization of the State government in 1865, he was elected to the State senate from the coun- ties of Grainger, Anderson, Union, Claiborne and Campbell. In 1866-67, he was re-elected from the same counties, and when that body was organized, he was elected speaker of the senate. During this session, Gov. Brownlow being elected to the United States sen- ate, Speaker Senter filled out his unexpired gubernato- rial term of eighteen months as governor of Tennessee.

In 1869, he was elected governor by the people by the overwhelming majority of seventy thousand votes, de- feating Gen. William B. Stokes. This campaign was one

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of the most notable in the annals of Tennessee politics. The difference between Gov. Senter and his competitor was on the franchise law, Gov. Senter taking position for the repeal of the law, upon the ground that every man who pays taxes ought to be entitled to vote. On this issue, he made a bold, brilliant campaign, com- pletely routing his opponent, gaining one of the most signal victories in State polities, and wresting the State government from the hands of men who had hitherto administered its affairs with oppression and bitterness. After his election he induced the Legislature to call the State constitutional convention of 1870, which re- pealed the franchise law, which he had previously fa- vored, prior to the reorganization of the State govern- ment, in the hands of loyal men. His party fealty was challenged by many Republicans in the State, but ex- perience has vindicated the wisdom of changing policies with a change of the spirit and circumstances of the people and times.

Since the completion of his gubernatorial term, Gov. Senter has been engaged in farming, having served in the house of representatives six years, in the senate four years, and three and a half years as governor.

Prior to the war, Gov. Senter was a Whig, born, bred and early instructed in the principles advocated by Henry Clay .. He afterward became a Republican, and has never cast a Democratic vote on principle, and was never defeated before the public for any office to which he aspired. In 1864, he was district presidential elector on the Lincoln and Johnson ticket, and in 1868. was an elector for the State at large on the Grant and Colfax ticket. His political record has been so satisfactory to his own feelings that he has retired from politics with- out a remorseful reflection upon himself, or a reproach from his fellow-citizens, whom he served so ably and faithfully.

Though raised by strict and pious Methodist parents, Gov. Senter has never attached himself to any church, a motto of his life being that if he once undertook any- thing he would go through with it. Never having felt the change called conversion, he deemed it would be unwise, if not hypocritical, to join a church and assume the responsibilities of a Christian character without first having had an experience of that change that would enable him well and truly to meet its obligations.

A striking trait in Gov. Senter's character is his confidence in the ability and inclination of the Ameri- can people to rectify wrongs or oppressions whenever they feel them, and to know when they are well off. In other words, he believes in the stability of the Ameri- can republic.

Gov. Senter is a Master Mason, but belongs to no other secret society. He is in comfortable financial circumstances, and seems to enjoy very much the healthy and independent life of a prosperous and prudent East Tennessee farmer. In 1865-66, he was president of the Cincinnati, Cumberland Gap and Charlston railroad.

Gov. Senter married, in Grainger county, Tennessee, September 1, 1859, Miss Harriet T. Senter, a distant relative, daughter of Gen. P. M. Senter, county and cir- cuit court clerk of Grainger county for about twenty years ; a soldier in the army that moved the Cherokees from Florida, in 1837 ; a lieutenant in the Mexican war, and now practicing law at Rutledge, Grainger county. Mrs. Senter's mother, nee Miss Adeline E. McCraw, is the daughter of Gabriel McCraw, whose name is signed to more surveys and locations of lands than that of any man ever in East Tennessee. He was for many years sheriff of Hawkins county. Mrs. Senter was educated at the Female College, at Rogersville, and is an indus- trious home-woman. remarkable for her household economies, not addicted to extravagant living, fine dressing, nor fashionable life. While, strictly speaking, not a literary woman, she is well posted on the topics of the day. She prides herself more on making a greater quantity and nicer butter than any woman in the country.

The grandfather of Gov. Senter, was Tandy Senter, a native of Virginia, who lived to be one hundred and nine years old, and died near Kingston, Roane county, Tennessee, in 1866. Ile was in the war of 1812, was a life long farmer, and noted for raising fine horses. He married Miss Susan Lyon, of a Virginia family. Ile left twelve children by two marriages, six by each mar- riage.

Gov. Senter's father, Hon. William T. Senter, was born in Grainger county, married in Hawkins county, was first a merchant. then a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, and later in life, in 1833, was a mem- ber of the State convention that revised the constitution of Tennessee. He was next district elector on the Har- rison and Tyler ticket, in 1840; was the nominee of the Whig party for Congress against Abraham MeClellan, but was defeated. In 1812, he was elected to Congress from the Second congressional district (then including Grainger county), served in 1813-44, and died in 1847, aged about forty-seven years. He was noted as being the most popular local preacher in East Tennessee, and had the power of carrying an audience, not alone by his brilliant eloquence, but by his known integrity, high moral character, and his even temperament, which kept him from quarreling with his neighbors about religion or politics.

Gov. Senter's mother, whose maiden name was Nancy White, was born in Hawkins county, Tennessee, daugh- ter of Rev. George White, a Virginian, and a Method- ist minister in the itinerant service. He was a strict family disciplinarian, and would stop any time in the middle of his sermon to rebuke any disorder he saw in church. He was a godly man of the old school, revered by young people as well as feared, and beloved by all. He married Miss Sarah Snodgrass, a daughter of Col. David Snodgrass, of Sullivan county, Tennessee, who was a colonel in the Revolutionary war, and for

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forty years before his death treasurer of Sullivan county. Gov. Senter's maternal grandmother, was a woman of remarkable piety, and religious without ostentation. Gov. Senter's mother, now in her sey- enty-fifth year, is still living on the old homestead. She has been the mother of seven children: (1). De Witt Clinton Senter, subject of this sketch. (2). Susan Sarah Senter, now wife of Dr. Jos. P. Conway, in Hamblen county ; has seven children, Sarah Porter (widow of Jacob Baker), Nancy, William, Charles, Joseph, De Witt and Edward or " Pudgy." (3), Mary Lucinda Senter, unmarried. (4). Ann Eliza Senter, who died the wife of George M. Murrell, leaving three children, Martha, Ada and- (5). Re- becca Senter, now wife of George A. Hodges, of Texas. (6). Nancy Senter, widow of Dr. John H. Everett ; has three children, Wilmer. Robert and Sallie. (7). Wil- liam T. Senter, now a Methodist minister in itinerant

service; married Miss May Mayes, and has five chil- dren, De Witt, Nancy, Rebecca, Harriet and William.

One of the cardinal points in Gov, Senter's character, even when a young man, was this: " Do nothing that will offend mother, or cause her to blush for anything I may do." And though wild and fond of gay life, he never did, even in his younger days, anything that was dishonorable. His mother, an old-fashioned, strong- minded woman, of the keenest, shrewdest observation, and of the strictest religious code, morning and night, invariably called her children together, read the Bible and prayed with her family and whoever might be pres- ent. And to the restraining influence of her counsel and example, to her ambition for her children to excel, Gov. Senter, with true filial gratitude, attributes his success in life. If he thought a thing was right, his prin- ciple has been to carry it out, regardless of cost or trouble or time.

COL. EDWARD I. GOLLADAY.

NASHVILLE.

E DWARD ISAAC GOLLADAY, subject of this sketch, widely and favorably known for his great abilities as a lawyer, a politician and a statesman, was born in Lebanon, Tennessee, September 9, 1831, the son of Isaac and Elizabeth Golladay. He began his school life, after some instruction at home, at the age of nine years, under Miss Harriet Abbe, formerly of Connecti- cut, who founded Abbe Institute, and afterward at- tended a classical school, Campbell Academy, under Prof. W. R. Me Dougall, an excellent New York educa- tor, at that time located in Wilson county, Tennessee. At the age of twelve years he entered the literary department of Cumberland University. Lebanon, grad- uating at eighteen, with the degree of B. A. Among his schoolfellows were Wiley M. Reed, who became pastor of the First Cumberland Presbyterian church, Nashville, and afterward was a colonel in the Confeder- ate army, and was killed at Fort Pillow ; also Rey. W. E. Beeson, now president of a college in Texas, and Judge Samuel B. Vance, an eminent lawyer, formerly of Henderson, Kentucky, now of Evansville, Indiana.

He entered the law department of Cumberland Uni- versity, under JJudges Abram Caruthers and Nathan Green, sr., and was contemporary in the school with Hon. John F. House, Gen. Robert Hatton, Hon. IL. Y. Riddle (who represented the Fourth congressional dis- trict in the Forty-fifth Congress), and several others who have attained eminence on the bench in other States. After graduation, he began practice at Leba- non, and, with the exception of intervals, which will be hereafter mentioned, remained there until March, 1881, when he moved to Nashville.

He married, in 1851, at the age of twenty, Miss Lou L. Cossitt, daughter of Rev. F. R. Cossitt, president of and professor of theology in Cumberland University, and one of the most profound classical scholars in the Cumberland Presbyterian church of that time. By his marriage with Miss Cossitt, he has one child, Fanny C Golladay, born July 28, 1861, in Lebanon ; educated at Lebanon and at Ward's seminary, Nashville,

In 1857, he was elected to the Legislature from Wil- sou county, on the conservative opposition, or Whig ticket, leading the ticket by about five hundred ma- jority. At this session of the Legislature the adoption of the Code of Tennessee was passed upon, and he was a member of the judiciary committee ; was also a mem- ber of the committee on corporations. In 1859, he was tendered the nomination of candidate for the State sen- ate, but declined, being then under thirty years of age. In 1860, he was nominated at Murfreesborough, con- gressional elector on the Bell and Everett ticket ; ac- cepted ; had as a competitor Gen. William B. Bate (now governor), who represented Breckinridge and Lane ; was elected, being the youngest member of the electoral college.

In September, 1861, he enlisted as a private in the Confederate service, in a company called the "Caruthers Grays," and was elected captain of the company. In October, 1861, he was elected lieutenant-colonel of the Thirty-eighth Tennessee infantry regiment, Col. R. F. Looney, of Memphis, in command. The regiment was composed of Tennesseans, Alabamians and Georgians. He participated in the engagements at Hartsville, Shiloh, Pittsburg Landing. Chickasaw, Monterey,

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and Corinth. In November, 1863, he was captured in Wilson county and sent to Gen. Lovell HI. Rousseau, commanding at Nashville ; gave his parole, and a bond not to engage further in hostilities; was released and remained within the Federal lines. He resumed his law practice, both at Lebanon and Nashville.

In 1870, he became a Democratic candidate for Con- gress from the Hermitage district, embracing Davidson, Wilson, Williamson, Robertson, Cheatham and Trous dale counties ; canvassed the district against Hon. Wil liam O Neill Perkins, Gen. Tom Benton Smith, Col. James J. Turner, Col. Joseph Mottley and the Hon. Bailie Beyton. He received the nomination in the convention at Nashville, and was opposed in the election before the people by the Hon. Bailie Peyton, an emi- nent politician, and the Hon, William F. Prosser (Republican), then sitting member for the district. He was elected, beating Prosser by nearly six thousand, and Peyton by over three thousand votes. He took his seat as a member of the Forty-second Congress, March 4, 1871. The right of the whole Tennessee delegation to be seated was disputed, and an especial contest.of Gol- laday's seat was made by Prosser. Col. Golladay deliv- ered an effective written argument in behalf of the Tennessee delegation before the committee on elections, which was ordered to be printed. The report of the committee was unanimous in favor of seating the whole Tennessee delegation; Congress adopted it without a dissenting vote, and the contest by Prosser was dropped. Ile was a member of the committee on patents, and of the committee on mileage. He delivered speeches against the famous " kuklux " and " civil rights" bills, both of which measures have since been pronounced unconstitutional by the Supreme court of the United States. In common with Hons. Daniel W. Vorhees, James A. Garfield, S. S. Cox, Samuel J. Randall, and the great majority of the eminent Republican and Democratie members of the Forty-second Congress, he voted for what was known as the " salary grab bill," and has always possessed the sturdy manhood to defend his action and maintain his integrity in this matter. He introduced and secured the passage of the bill for the purchase of the property for the construction of the custom house at Nashville. He secured appropriation for the first time in congressional history for the im- provement of Cumberland river, securing as much as two hundred and forty-five thousand dollars in his one term, making the river a familiar in the river and har- bor bills since passed, for further appropriations. He also introduced a bill for the dedication of all the pub- lic lands belonging to the United States for educational purposes, and for an equal distribution of the lands or their proceeds for this use among the respective States, according to population, and asking for an account from all the States that had received such grants from Congress.

In 1872, a year made famous by what is known as the

Johnson-Cheatham canvass, he was the nominee of the Democratic party in the Nashville district for Congress, but was defeated by Horace H. Harrison (Republican) ; a defeat brought about by dissensions produced in the Democratic ranks by reason of Mr. Johnson's candi- dacy.

He was, in 1874, a candidate for nomination before the Democratic convention, which met at Hartsville, and came within a few votes of being nominated. The convention could not agree on any of the aspirants before it, and took up Hon. S. M. Fite, of Car- thage, who had not been a candidate, and who, having been elected, died before taking his seat. Strangely enough, Col. John W. Head, of Gallatin, who was elected to fill the vacancy, also died before taking his seat, when Hon. II. Y. Riddle, of Lebanon, was elected, took his seat, and sometime after committed suicide, during a temporary mental aberration.

In 1878, at the instance of many friends, Col. Golla- day made an independent canvass for Congress, in the Fourth district, against Hon. Benton McMillin, who had been nominated, without having been a candidate, over the heads of all aspirants, including Col. James J. Turner, Col. John P. Murray and R. C. Sanders. Col. Golladay refused to go into convention, claiming that the Democratic majority was so large that no con- vention was needed. In this race he was defeated, re- ceiving, however, a very handsome vote, and carrying Wilson county triumphantly.

Col. Golladay was, for many years, a trustee of Cum: berland University, his old alma mater, which position he resigned in 1881, on removing to Nashville, Since 1878, he has not been an aspirant for any public honors.

Whatever success Col. Golladay has attained, is due to his education and the practice of integrity and in- dustry in his profession, coupled with his powers of public speaking, at the bar and on the hustings, There are few better debaters in Tennessee, and still fewer who can win the hearts of an audience and carry them along en rapport with his fervid, burning, fiery eloquence.

He was brought up in the Cumberland Presbyterian church, of which his parents were members, but is strongly attached to the doctrines and ritual of the Episcopal church. He is a Mason of the Royal Arch degree ; has passed all the chairs in Odd Fellowship; is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, having attained the degree of Chief; also of the Knights of Pythias ; but is not a frequent attendant at the meetings of any of the societies mentioned, his occupation in life being such that he has but little time to keep up his associations with these excellent orders.

Col. Golladay's father was born near Staunton, Vir- ginia, and, when about four years of age, was bound out, being an orphan, to a kinsman, a farmer. At the age of seventeen he ran away and went to Maryland, and became clerk in a dry goods store in Hagerstown.

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At that place he met Miss Elizabeth Shall, whom he married. In 1816, he moved to Lebanon, Tennessee, and engaged in merchandising with his brother-in-law, Michael Yerger, the father of the distinguished family of Yergers of Tennessee and Mississippi, famous as lawyers, judges and law reporters. By his marriage with Miss Shall he had ten children, eight sons and two daughters, Col. Golladay being the youngest. Of these children : (1). Samuel Golladay, was for many years a merchant in Nashville and Lebanon; died at Col. Gol laday's residence, in 1873; unmarried; one of the purest and best of men. (2). George Shall Golladay, was a lawyer in Mississippi, and several times elected to the Legislature of that State: died in Memphis, in 1872. (3). Hon. Jacob S. Golladay, now a farmer and lawyer in Logan county, Kentucky ; was several times a mem- ber of the Legislature of Kentucky, and twice a mem- ber from his district to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses. (4). Frederick Golladay, now a farmer in Wilson county, and resident in Washington, D. C. (5). Robert HI. Golladay, is a lawyer of superior ability in Grenada, Mississippi, and a man of great modesty and worth. (G). David Golladay, died in infancy. (7). John Golladay, died also in infancy. (8). Carrie M. Golladay, died in 1865, the wife of Thomas J. Stratton, cashier of the Second National Bank, Lebanon, leaving four sons, all in business in Lebanon. (9). Sarah Ann Golladay, married Rev. W. W. Bell; now a widow, living in Kan- sas. (10). Edward Isaac Golladay, subject of this sketch.

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 68

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