Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 69

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 69

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Col. Golladay's father was a man of very strong com- mon sense, of high morals and integrity; economical and strict in the government and management of his family ; of great sobriety; of limited education, but a good letter writer and a correct speller, writing a very fine hand. He was a man of magnificent personnel ; a devoted friend and admirer of Andrew Jackson, and a man very warm in his friendships and attachments. He was appointed postmaster directly after he began mer- chandising in Lebanon, and remained in office through

all the successive changes of administration-Whig and Democratic-till his death, which occurred at Lebanon, October 6, 1818, at the age of sixty-seven years.

Col. Golladay's paternal grandfather was a soldier under Washington, being at. Valley Forge and at Tren- ton, where he was wounded.

The Golladays are of French extraction, the family name, as originally spelt, being Gallaudet.

Col. Golladay's mother was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1787, and was the youngest of six children. Her sister, Margaret, died the wife of Michael Yerger, by whom she had eleven children, ten sons and one. daughter. Col. Golladay's mother was an eminently domestic woman, occupied entirely in the care and training of her children and the comfort of her hus- band and family. She was very strict, yet very tender and kind and motherly. The children were all taught to work and to be useful. She, as well as her husband, made every effort to afford them the best education the means and the times and country afforded. She was of German or Dutch origin, and possessed all of the sturdy, sterling qualities of that people. In June, 1872, Col. Golladay, accompanied by his wife and daughter, visited Hagerstown, Maryland, and was shown by an old aunt; Mrs. Kittie Kausler, the parlor in which his mother and herself were courted by the young gallants, who afterwards became their respective husbands; also, the old spring from which the family obtained water, and the ancient Lutheran church in which his father and mother were married, now somewhat changed in its architecture.

In physique and facial expression, Col. Golladay is a most attractive man. He stands five feet ten inches in height ; weighs about two hundred and six pounds ; has dark, piercing black eyes ; intensely black hair, slightly streaked with gray; looks the very picture of robust good health, and impresses one with the idea that he sprang from good, strong stock, physically, mentally and morally.

THOMAS E. MOORE, M. D.

BOLIVAR.

T' HIS gentleman, who is justly regarded as one of ! the representative physicians and surgeons of Tennessee, was born in Huntsville, Alabama, August 18, 1819. His ancestors on both sides were originally from Virginia. His grandfather, Rev. John Moore, was a Methodist minister and farmer, a pioneer settler in Alabama. His father, John F. Moore, was a pros- perous farmer, born in Brunswick county, Virginia ; emigrated to Alabama when it was a territory ; located in Madison county, Alabama, where he died. in 1835, at

the age of fifty-five years, Of Dr. Moore's paternal relatives who distinguished themselves, there were his uncle, Dr. David Moore, of Huntsville, who served several terms in the senate and lower house of the Ala- bama Legislature ; his cousin, Hon, Suydenham Moore, son of Dr. Alfred Moore, who was a congressman from Alabama when secession took place, and his brother, John E. Moore, who was circuit judge in the Florence, Alabama, district.

Dr. Moore's mother was Miss Nancy Fletcher, daugh-

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ter of Richard Fletcher, a native of Brunswick county, Virginia, and one of the early settlers in Alabama. She died in 1832, at the age of forty, having borne twelve children, nine of whom survived her: (1). James Moore. (2). Maria Moore, who died the wife of John Malone. (3). Dr. John R. Moore, now a large farmer near Greensborough, Alabama. (4). Leonidas Moore. (5). Dr. Thomas E. Moore, subject of this sketch. (6). Martha Moore, who died the wife of John M. Moore. (7). Matthew Moore. (8). Robert Moore. (9). Albert Moore.

Thomas E. Moore was raised at Huntsville, and edu- cated in the schools and academies there. At eighteen, he began the study of medicine with his brother, Dr. John R. Moore, of Greensborough, Alabama, and after reading with him two years went to the Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1838, graduating there in the spring of 1812, under Profs. Dudley, Bush, Mitchell, N. R. Smith, Cross and Peter, Returning to Alabama, in June, 1842, he soon afterward removed to Bolivar, Tennessee, and permanently located, where he has . practiced ever since, now forty-four years. His practice has been extensive and lucrative from the first. Before the war be invested his surplus income in land and negroes. Since the war, also, he has been a finan- cial success, and this too, notwithstanding the fact that the legitimate medical fraternity is not protected in Tennessee, the country abounding in so-called physi- cians, almost totally incompetent, but patronized out of the comity of the neighborhoods where they live. Whether the Legislature or the medical colleges are responsible for this grievous state of affairs, and are to be held accountable because the medical profession is so poorly represented, or rather so badly misrepresented, it matters not, yet it is as certain as that health and life are preferable to sickness and death, that no man with- out an honestly-earned diploma should be allowed to practice medicine, and that the standard of qualification for a diploma should be measured by the most advanced medical science. The skill, experience and learning of Dr. Moore have been widely appreciated, both profess.

ionally and financially ; is recognized over the State, and he presents in himself a notable example of that ele- vated dignity which the profession in general should attain.

Dr. Moore is the president of the medical board at Bolivar, and stands high in the profession. He is espe- cially successful in the management of diseases of women and children. His success came of strict atten- tion to business, economical habits, and a sober life, never dissipating in any way. In politics he has always been Democratic, as were his father and relatives before him, but he has never taken much part in party con- tests, confining himself strictly to his profession. He is an Odd Fellow, and a strong Methodist in principle, though not a communicant.

Dr. Moore has been twice married. He first married, in Bolivar, in 1818, Miss Elizabeth Joy, daughter of Levi and Martha Joy, nee Johnson, His wife died in 1849, leaving one child, a.daughter, Alice, now wife of Mr. M. B. Hardaway, a planter, in Benton county, Mississippi, who has six children, Lizzie, Alice, Vir- ginia, Lucie, Mingibus and Morgan.

Dr. Moore next married, in Marshall county, Miss- issippi, March 20, 1855, Miss Susan Morgan, daughter of Maj. J. H. Morgan, a planter. Her mother was Miss Lucie Jeffreys, originally from North Carolina. The second wife died December 25, 1879, at the age of forty years, leaving one child, a son, Thomas Morgan Moore, born March 5, 1856; educated at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee ; now a druggist and farmer at Bolivar.

Dr. Moore is a man of noble physical proportions stands six feet two and a half inches in height, and weighs two hundred and twenty-five pounds. His fea- tures are strongly marked, and the impression he makes is that of a man of force, while his promptness in speaking, and the clear, confident tones of his voice, in- dicate a man who has strong faith in his own rectitude and convictions. He is a man of sterling integrity, conservative in all things, radical in nothing, and with much of the milk of human kindness in his nature.

DAVID JOBE GIBSON, M. D.

JONESBOROUGH.

T" THE subject of this sketch was born on his grand- father's farm, near what is now Johnson City, Washington county, Tennessee, April 17. 1822, and grow to ten years of age in that immediate vicinity. His father then located near Jonesborough, and in that town Dr. Gibson has had his home ever since, with the exception of some three years, which he spent at Ashe ville, North Carolina 10

In his boyhood he worked some ou the farm, but went to school most of the time, intending, from the age of sixteen, to become a physician. In his case is but an- other illustration of carly inclinations being turned in the right channel, and should prove to parents that children ought to be permitted at an early date to begin preparation for the special pursuit or profession for which nature seems to have destined them. He spent

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three years, 1840-43, asa student in Washington College, then under President Alexander Doak, whose grand- father, Samuel Doak, founded that school, the first institution of learning in Tennessee.

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After leaving college, he studied medicine under Dr. Samuel Cunningham three years, at Jonesborough, occa- sionally visiting his patients with him, and assisting in numerous surgical operations. He then attended one course of lectures in the medical department of the Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, and afterward went to Asheville, North Carolina, where, for three years, he practiced medicine. He then at- tended a course of lectures at the Philadelphia College of Medicine, and graduated in 1851. under Profs. Mitchell. Van Dyke, MeClintock, Fickardt, and others. After graduation he came to Jonesborough, where he has practiced his profession ever since, doing an exten- sive and laborious practice, during which he has per- formed such surgical operations as strangulated hernia, amputations, etc. He is president of the Medical As- sociation of Washington county, and president of the examining board of United States surgeons for appli- cants for pensions, and was secretary of the board for ten years.

Before the dissolution of the Whig party, Dr. Gibson was a Whig; since then he has been a Republican, but has never held office, except that of alderman of Jones- borough. He joined the Presbyterian church at the age of thirty, and has been an elder in that church the past twelve years.

Dr. Gibson married, first, in Asheville, North Carolina, in 1850, Miss Harriet E. Johnston, daughter of Wil- liam Johnston, a wealthy merchant, general trader and cotton manufacturer, a native of Ireland. Her mother was Lucinda Gudger, daughter of James Gudger, a prominent citizen of Buncombe county, North Carolina, and member of the Legislature of that State. Mrs. Gibson died in 1852.

spirit and progressive aspirations of East Tennes- scans. She has strong convictions of right and wrong, and adheres to them so rigidly that it has been said of her that she would make line material for a martyr. She was first president of the Woman's Synodical Missionary Society, and is president of the Jonesborough Women's Missionary Society. She came to Jonesborough with a class mate and follow-teacher, Miss Sarah Jane Foster, now the widow of Rev. Samuel Rhea, who died. a missionary in Persia. His widow now resides at Lake ! Forest, Ilinois.

By his marriage with Miss Kelly, Dr. Gibson has." three children : (1). Harriet Elizabeth Gibson, born June --- , 1860; graduated at Andover, Massachusetts,: in 1881 ; is a member of the Presbyterian church, and a very active and devoted worker in her church, inde- fatigable in every work she undertakes, in this respect a reproduction of her mother. She has taught private literary schools at Jonesborough, is a Sunday-school teacher, treasurer of the Woman's Presbyterial Mis- sionary Society, and leader of the Juvenile Missionary Board. Jonesborough. She married, April 23, 1885, John W. Heron, M. D., of Jonesborough, an English- man by birth, and in May following sailed with him for Corea, where he is medical missionary under the aus- pices of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. (2). John Henry Gibson, born May, 1862; educated at Jonesborough ; now engaged in business at Asheville, North Carolina. (3). David J. Gibson, jr., born -, 1873.

The Gibsons are of Scotch-Irish stock. Thomas Gib- son, the grandfather of. Dr. Gibson, came from Dublin, Ireland, and settled in Washington county, at the " stone house," near Carter's depot, and engaged in school teaching. He died at an early age. He married a Miss Dengan, daughter of Jeremiah Dungan, a prominent citizen of his time, and the owner of a mill and other property, including the "stone house." He left three children : (1). Jeremiah Gibson, father of Dr. Gibson. (2). Thomas Gibson, who died in Washington count-, a farmer. (3). Orphia Gibson, who died the wife of Seth Thompson.

Dr. Gibson next married, at Jonesborough, Tenes sec. in June, 1859, Miss Sarah A. Kelly, a native of Atkinson, New Hampshire, daughter of John Kelly, a lawyer. Her mother, Mary Chase, was a relative of Judge Salmon P. Chase, the famous secretary of the Dr. Gibson's father, Jeremiah Gibson, was born at the " stone house," lived a successful farmer, was in the war of 1812, and died at the age of eighty-four, dis- tinguished for those sterling East Tennessee virtues, integrity and truthfulness, and for being kind-hearted and generous to the poor. It is said he never turned want away from his door, and was esteemed highly by his neighbors and friends. He was not a man to color the truth, but uniformly made his statement cover the exact facts of the situation. A singular and a com- mendable peculiarity of this gentleman was, that when- ever he toll his servants to do anything, he told them the reason why he wanted it done treasury under Mr. Lincoln, Mrs. Gibson's only pa ternal uncle, Dr. Nathaniel Kelly, is a prominent phy- sician at Plaiston, New Hampshire, now eighty-four years of age. Her only brother, Henry A. Kelly, is a lawyer, recently in government employ at Washington. Her only sister, Miss Mary E. Kelly, resides at Atkin- son, New Hampshire. Mrs. Gibson was educated at Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts; is an active working member of the Presbyterian church; a woman of very positive character, untiring in her efforts at any thing she undertakes, especially church work, in which she has been prominent ever since she came to Jones borough. She has a very vigorous and well trained Dr. Gibson's mother, art. Phebe Jobe, was born in mind, and is in full sympathy with the independent | Shenandoah county, Virginia, daughter of David Jobe,

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a farmer, who moved to Washington county, Tennessee, when the daughter was a child, located at the place now known as Johnson City, which is situated on what was his farm. He was a very quiet man, and possessed of considerable property. Dr. Gibson's mother hold to the Baptist faith. She was self-sacrificing and kind- hearted, especially to the distressed, of most excellent practical sense, and ruled her household by kindness. Dr. Gibson, with some pride, states that his mother bever struck him a bek, and that he always obeyed her One of the few instances parallel to this is in the his. tory of Bishop Kavanaugh, of whom bis biographer relates that he never disobeyed his mother. All honor and blessing is the promise to sons who thus honor father and mother. She died at the age of eighty four, the mother of but one child, the subject of this sketch.

Beginning life without inheritance, he is now in comfortable circumstances, owns a drug store and con- siderable real estate in Jonesborough. It is not so much owing to want of personal pride or energy that some young men become failures, but from ignorance of the science of success, the law of thrift. Dr. Gibson,

though reared tenderly, had pride of character and ambition to get a start, accumulate property and make his mark in the world. He has never been extravagant or wasteful, but has been a bad collector, too lenient and indulgent with his numerons dilatory patients. 1 man may be so good to others as to be unjust to his own family, but Dr. Gibson's desire has been to do right and so conduct himself' as to win the confidence, respect and approbation of bis fellow men. One of his aims is to bring as much sunshine as he can into the world, and, so far as his professional abilities enable hit, to relieve human suffering. It seems an absolute pleasure to him to speak a kind word to a ragged, or make a sorrowing child happy by a kind word or act. Affectionate in dis- position, exceedingly sympathetic, modest and candid to a fault, he is one's beau ideal of a family physician. Hle has strongly marked features, a Roman nose, very gray and plentiful hair, and a voice so very tender that it must be itsell'a tonie and a hope to one on a sick- bed. Indeed, he is one of those men, of whom people are apt to say, " It is a great pity the State has not a hundred thousand such men as he."

HON. CHARLES BRYSON SIMONTON.

COVINGTON.

T' HE following biographical sketch of Ilon. Charles Bryson Simonton, one of the most distinguished and promising of the younger generation of Tennessee lawyers and statesmen, furnishes another striking ex- ample of what a Tennessee boy can do to rise superior to his circumstances, and, by force of that genius and merit which ever assert themselves, compel public rec- ognition of an inherited manhood. It is always a pleas- ant task to extol merit, but it is eminently so when the subject is as modest as praiseworthy, and when the rec- ord will prove as interesting and instructive as it is true to life.

Charles Bryson Simonton is of Scotch-Irish parent age, and was born near Porterville, Tipton county, Tennessee, September 8, 1838. His paternal grand- father, John Simonton, came over from Ireland about 1757, when but fourteen years of age, an orphan, and, with his three sisters, settled in York district, South Carolina, afterward removing to Fairfield district, on Little river, in the same State, where, after a successful career as a planter, he died, leaving four sons and four daughters. He married Martha Strong, sister of Chris- topher Strong, of Dickson county, Tennessee, who was a very successful farmer and business man, accumu- lated a large property, and made many benevolent bequests at his death. He is the ancestor of many highly respected families in Middle and West Tonnes

see, Arkansas and Mississippi, bearing the names of Strong, Dickson and Bowen.

A large family of sons and daughters was reared at the Fairfield home, and many of their descendants to- day are citizens of South Carolina, among whom may be mentioned the Briees, Wilsons and Douglases- names that have figured in useful and honorable pur- suits, many of them as ornaments in the. learned pro- fessions. Of the latter, no citizen of the Palmetto State enjoys a larger share of the confidence and esteem of his people, than Col. Charles H. Simonton, the well- known lawyer and distinguished politician. He is the son of Charles Simonton, unele of Charles B Simonton, subject of this sketch. Two of his sisters married Brices, gentlemen of wealth in South Carolina, and their children occupy positions of influence as minis- ters, lawyers and physicians in that State.

Charles B. Simonton's father, William Simonton, the fourth son of John Simonton, was a native of South Carolina, born in 1790. His wife, nee Miss Katie For- guson, was born in the same State. They removed to what was then the wilderness of West Tennessee, lo- eating in Tipton county, in the winter of 1829-30. With his brother, Robert Simonton, he cleared a farm, and soon after erected the first cotton gin-house in the county. The venture was not financially successful, and four years after the birth of the subject of this

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sketch, the father died (in 1813), at the age of fifty- 1 three, leaving his widow with eight children, and pro- vided with but a meager support. The youngest of the eight children, Charles B. Simonton, was brought up to labor on the farm-a task which in the South means - the most arduous toil for the greater portion of the year. With his brothers he wielded the hive and fol- lowed the plow from day to day, and in the fullness of time helped to gather in the crop that was the support of the family. If he ever repined, it was at the thought. that fate had denied him the advantages of education . -- the only facilities in that regard being the wretched winter schools of the period. When he was fifteen years old, his uncle, John Simonton, of Fairfield, South Carolina, a man of means, while on a visit to Tennessee, observing the intelligence, sobriety and studious habits of his nephews, determined to afford them the opportu- nity for a classical education. Ilis proposition was to first educate an older brother, William W. Simonton, but to this generous proposition, Charley, emboldened 1 to improve this chance in life, suggested as an amend- ment that it would be still better if the uncle would send two of the boys to school instead of one, himself to be the second. Thus taking the tide at its flood shaped his future. The amendment was accepted, and the two brothers were sent, first to a school at Porter- ville, then taught by Rev. J. A. Dixon, now a Presby- terian divine at Pine Bluff, Arkansas (who had married their niece, Miss Kate McCain), and Rev. James II. Strong, now pastor of Salem church, Tipton county. Here they completed a preparatory course prior to enter- ing Erskine College, South Carolina. This latter institu- tion the boys attended three years, graduating in August, 1859, Charley being elected by the Euphemian literary society to represent it on commencement day, a distine- tion which, added to the honor of receiving the long coveted diploma on the same occasion, made that the proudest day of his life. The members of the society were gratified at his effort as their representative, the audience was delighted, and his friends interpreted his oration as indicating future eminence and usefulness.

The young Tennessean left college utterly without means in a pecuniary sense, but rich in grand possi- bilities. He had acquired the right to advancement, and he intended to advance. The school-room was his arena for a time, where he intended to achieve that success, and therefore, after graduation, he returned home and taught school in the academy where he had formerly been a student, and continued to teach with acceptance until the day he heard of the firing on Fort Sumter.

The boom of those guns echoing through the land, transformed the quiet and studious young teacher into the ardent and impetuous sollier. He did not wait for the secession of his State, but joined the first company raised in Tipton county for the Confederate service, company C, under Capt. D. J. Wood, of the famous

Ninth Tennessee infantry, Col. II. L. Douglass com- manding. Company ( was composed of the flower of Tipton's young men, and no one was permitted in its ranks without the unanimous consent of its members. Charles B. Simonton was elected second-lieutenant without opposition. He was present at the battle of Bel mont. At the battle of Shiloh he commanded his com- pany in the second day's action, and at the reorganiza- tion of the army at Corinth, May, 1862, he was chosen captain. receiving ninety-six votes of ninety-seven cast in the election. In the engagement at Perryville, Col. Buford having been disabled, Capt. Simonton took com- mand and pressed the enemy until he too fell, very se- riously wounded. Here company C lost more than half its members in killed and wounded. Left upon the field, the young officer was taken prisoner, and for six months lay at the point of death. Lingering in hospitals, un- able to sit at the table for his meals, from the date of his wound, October 8. 1862, till the following Christmas, he at length partially recovered. The cartel for ex- change of prisoners being abrogated and paroles revoked, on March 10, 1863, he and two comrades qui- etly procured horses, and, unobserved, started for Dixie, thus undertaking a task for which his frail body was in nowise fitted, and would not have sustained had he not been upheld by an iron resolution that surmounted all obstacles.

He rejoined the army at Shelbyville, Tennessee; after an absence of seven months, though unable for duty. : 1. Hle, however, remained with his command until the following August, when, being advised by his surgeon that he could not again be fit for service, he resigned. He was then the senior captain of his regiment, had been in the campaigns in Missouri, Mississippi, Ten- nessee and Kentucky, and participated in at least three of the hottest fights in the west -- Belmont, Shiloh and Perryville. His reluctant resignation, however, was compelled by despair of ever recovering from the wound he received at Perryville-a minnie-ball having shattered his left shoulder-and which totally disabled him for over two years, and from the effects of which now, twenty two years later, he has not the full swing of his left arm. The close of the war found him at the bedside of a brother, who shortly afterward expired from wounds received in battle. So cruel were the deso- lations of war that they robbed his family of four mem- bers, himself of four brothers.

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 69

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