Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 76

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 76

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Maj. Glass was a candidate for the Democratic nom- ination to Congress before the convention of that party at Dyersburg. September 9 Ist. After more than

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two thousand ballots had been taken, he withdrew from the contest, although he had frequently come within three or four votes of the necessary two-thirds of all the votes cast. After a session of five days. the con- vention adjourned, late on Saturday night. September 13. having failed to make a nomination. The adjourn mont was to the following Thursday, and the conven tion met pursuant thereto at Trenton, Tennessee. Maj. Glass was not present at Trenton, nor was his name placed before the convention until after several hundred ballotings had taken place. He was then brought forward by the delegations from Gibson and Crockett counties, and nominated under the majority rule, it having been found impossible to effect a nomination under the two-thirds rule. He imme- diately entered the field and made a thorough canvass of the entire district. Hon. Emerson Etheridge became his competitor, but no proposition being made by him for a joint canvass-Maj. Glass being already in the field-they each canvassed separately. . Mr. Etheridge being decidedly the strongest Republican in the dis- triet, brought out the entire strength of his party, increasing his vote more than three thousand over that of Capt. Lyle, who had made the race against Hon. Rice A. Pierce, two years previously. Maj. Glass was also strongly opposed by two of the Democratic news- papers of the district, on account of the manner in which he was nominated, and many of the personal friends of Hon. Rice A. Pierce opposed him with in- tense bitterness. Notwithstanding all this opposition, he was elected by a majority of nearly twenty-five hundred over his competitor, and the two papers of his own party that opposed him ceased to exist imme- diately after the election.

Maj. Glass' polities began to take shape when he was very young. His father was a Jackson man. When Crockett and Fitzgerald made the race for Congress. Maj. Glass took sides with Fitzgerald's followers, and as he investigated the political history of the country he began to allign himself with the Democratic party. He has always taken a leading interest in politics, but has been uniformly conservative; for example, he did not believe in the expediency of secession, and doubted the constitutionality of it. In his contests for the Legislature and for Congress his speeches have been mainly on the agricultural and business interests of the country-first, to show that agriculture is the great industry of the country; that more than one-half the population are engaged in it; and, consequently, are entitled to a large recognition at the hands of the Federal government. He is in favor of a tariff for revenue, so adjusted within revenue limits as to afford protection to all American industries, and believes that the protective policy, together with our navigation laws, has been the chief cause of the loss to America of the carrying trade which we enjoyed in 1855. In other words, we have fostered our manufacturing industries

to the great detriment of our carrying trade, building up the one as hot-house plants, and almost destroying the other.

His election to Congress by a brilliant majority, is to be accounted for on two grounds: First, his moral character : and, secondly, the interest he has always manifested on the stump, in the Legislature, and as editor, in the agricultural interests of the State, and especially of his own district, comprising the counties of Haywood, Lauderdale, Dyer, Obion, Lake, Weakley, Gibson, and Crockett -- one of the most productive ag- ricultural districts in the State. Secondly : In 1860,- he supported Stephen A. Douglas, believing he was one of the few men living who was able to prevent war between the States; and being devoted to the union of the States, Maj. Glass did not favor secession till the' integrity of the U'uion was broken by the secession of South Carolina, when he thought it was better for the South to stand together, and favored the secession of Tennessee.

As a speaker, he has good command of language, and states his propositions with a clearness that shows he has mastered the subjects he handles, and is familiar with the history of political questions. His ambition seems all unselfish, and he aims only at the good of the country with which his own interests are identified.

His character was formed on the farm. His parents were never rich, and their children were required to do some farm work. He had but little money during his minority, and was never disposed to be extravagant. His tastes were simple and his habits economical. Il is patrimony was quite small, and he early recognized the fact that he must use both economy and industry in order to rise in the world : and in not having the advantage of a collegiate education. he was put at a disadvantage with many of his contemporaries; but having ambition to do good and make himself useful, he engaged in mercantile business, and pursued it with diligence and energy, and whilst he gave up the practice of law very early, he kept up his habits of reading, and studied closely the history of his own country, and especially the lives of the founders of American institutions. He mingled freely with the masses. learned their struggles and difficulties, and was always in sympathy with them. He studied closely the industrial interests of the people, and was always opposed to monopolies, and regarded with keen apprehension the growing corporations of the land, believing that there is intelligence and virtue enough in the masses to govern the country successfully. and that capital in the hands of a very small minority ought not to be allowed to direct the legislation of the country in its interest, to the detriment and partial en- slavement of the majority. Being a practical man, on the stump he does not say sharp things, nor tell ance- dotes, but any assemblage of people that listens to him must see clearly his positions, and the reasons that

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sustain them. Hence, his powerful influence as a speaker. He is always calm, collected; dealing in facts and figures, and draws his illustrations of an idea or a policy from the results of its own history, and back through American history, and into the depths of an tiquity, where it first began. He never possessed great money-making capacity, and worked harder than most men to accomplish what he has in the way of property. He has drawn around himself a following. because the people came to have confidence in his honesty and integrity ; and when in office he always guarded the public treasury with great vigilance. Hence, he was not looked on with great favor by those having jobs ; and never considered popularity worth the cost, unless it followed as the reward of correct conduct.

In religion he is a Baptist, and has been liberal to the Baptists and Methodists especially, as his wife is a member of the Methodist church. He is a Sunday- school teacher, but not an officer in his church.

As a speaker and conversationalist, he is always instructive, and always a surprise, for the reason that he is so original in his expressions and - modes of thought. Very clearly he is a man that wears his own head, does his own thinking, and is utterly free from pretense and mere sham and show. He appears in this volume, not only as a representative Tennessee congressman, but a representative Tennessee man, of the best type.

During his brief service in Congress, Maj. Glass has shown himself an attentive and useful member, ever alive to the material interests of the country, and labor- ing earnestly to promote the welfare of the farming and industrial classes, whose claims on the fostering legisla- tion of the goverment have been, to a great extent, subordinated to far less important matters. On March 6, 1886, he delivered a well prepared speech upon a bill, introduced by himself, to promote agriculture. The intention of the bill was to enlarge the scope of commercial agents, by requiring them to embrace in their reports to the State and treasury departments the subject of agriculture as well as of commerce and man- ufactures, and in its advocacy Maj. Glassdelivered a most practical argument. The limits of the present sketch allow only the publication here of the following extracts, which will give a fair sample of the speaker's style, and his strong, effective manner of presenting facts and arguments: " Under the present law, our consuls are required to procure and transmit to the department of State accurate commercial information of their districts, and to report the prices-current of merchandise as often as may be required to the treasury department. Now this bill would have them to procure and transmit through the same channels, information of the condi tion and prospects, monthly, of the crops within the limits of their consulates, so that the facts may be com- piled and embraced in the monthly bulletins of the crop reports of the commissioner of agriculture; and also to

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give at least once a year, or oftener if so required by the State department, the prices-current of all such merchandise and farm products, orchard and garden, as are imported into the ports of their consulates, thereby giving to the farmers of our country a full knowledge of the character and quantity of the products of the soil of the countries where this government has a con- sul, in order that our people may be informed as to when there may be a demand and a market for their surplus products of the soil and the prices-current of the same. We can not give to the farmer too much information on this subject. And it is certainly the duty of the government to do this much to advance so great and overshadowing an industry, particularly when it can be done at so small a cost. The agriculturists of the country must become more self-asserting and enforce their just demands for larger and broader recognition in the legislation of Congress. It is the duty of the government to provide for this large and useful class of our population all such information as will entitle them to know where to find the best and dearest markets for their products and to remove as far as practicable all obstacles to their access to them. This becomes im- perative, in view of the fact that most of the farm prod - uets have tended downward for years in price, and many have reached a price below which there is no margin above the cost of production.

" Legislation should be directed to the end that the farmer be given the freedom of the open markets of the world and all proper facilities afforded him for the transportation and exportation of his products to any market, domestic and foreign. This very numerous class seeks no exclusive privileges, but only such as are enjoyed by every other class in the land. This they have a right to demand, and Congress should not dony it to them. The law should compel our consuls to gather and furnish this agricultural information, that the commissioner may scatter it broa least over the land.

" There is no good reason why our consuls should confine their reports to the commodities exported from the countries to which they are accredited. Let them embrace all articles imported of considerable value, es- pecially of the products of the soil, the mine, and the workshop, the character of farm tools used in culti- vating erops, and whether of domestic or foreign man. ufacture. This will give our industrial population a better idea of the best markets for their surplus prod- uets, and when and where to export them. The masses need information on these subjects, and it is the duty of the government to procure and furnish it. It can be done through government agency at much less cost. to the citizens than through private channels. A broad and liberal policy in this direction should be inaugu rated and carried out.

"The farms of the United States are worth more than ten billions a larger sum than is invested in any

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other single industry, and the annual returns from these farms exceed three billion dollars. The manufactur- ing industries of our country produce annually, in round numbers, five billions three hundred and sixty- nine millions, but more than half of this is the cost of raw material, leaving as the gross value of the products of manufacture one billion nine hundred and seventy- five million-little more than one-half the value of the farm products. Agriculture furnishes employment to a greater number of laborers than any other occupation. About fifty-two per cent. of our entire population are

engaged in this industry or are dependent upon it for a living. Of the seven million six hundred and seventy thousand farmers, about four millions own the farm> they cultivate, and nearly four millions are farm labor- ers. Let us dignify this great industry by giving to it a larger and broader. recognition in the legislation of this body. Let tardy justice be done that class who toil in the field and the shop, and are the most law-abiding, patriotic and useful class in the land. This country is pre-eminently agricultural, and in the very nature of things must continue to remain such."

COL. MATTHEW C. GALLAWAY.

MEMPHIS.

T HIE eminent editor whose name stands at the head of this biography, and who is recognized as one of the ablest, most erudite, and most successful jour- nalists of the South, was born in Huntsville, Alabama, March 5, 1820, but was raised in Morgan and Lawrence counties of that State. His father, Wiley Gallaway, was a native of Oglethorpe county, Georgia, came to Alabama, in 1818, located at Huntsville, moved from that place to Morgan county, in 1822, and settled near where Danville in that county now is, and was one of the first school teachers in the State of Alabama. He married, at. Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 1817. In 1824, he moved from Morgan to Lawrence county, and taught school there until about 1830, when he was elected probate judge of Lawrence county, which office he held about twenty-seven years. In 1859, he moved to Texas with his two daughters, Mrs. James Townsend and Mrs. James Wise, and there died and was buried at a place called Lone Pine, in his seventy-fifth year. Judge Gal- laway was known as the finest scholar of his day and State. He was also a most popular man, as is evidenced by his having held an elective office for so long a time, his integrity, honesty and inflexibility of character win- ning for him the implicit confidence of the entire com- munity. The family strength in the county is also seen in the remarkable fact, that at one time, while he was the probate judge, his son, William M. Gallaway, was the circuit judge, elected by the Legislature, and his nephew, Amos P. Gallaway, was, at the same time, sheriff of the same county. This concentration of office in his family, however, defeated him at the succeeding election, but at the election next ensuing, he was re- elected probate judge by an almost unanimous vote, the people not appreciating his services until they had had a trial of getting along without them four years. He was succeeded by his brother-in-law, Judge Charles. Gibson, and Judge James 11. Mc Donald, his son-in-law, now fills the position, showing that the office has been

in the family ever since 1830, except the brief interval before mentioned.

The Gallaway family is of Scotch-Irish origin, and came over to Oglethorpe county, Georgia, just prior to the Revolution, in which three brothers took part on the patriot side. Many descendants of the stock now live in North Carolina and Georgia.

Col. Gallaway's paternal grandfather, Matthew Gal- laway, a native of Oglethorpe county, Georgia, died in Morgan county, Alabama, in 1822. Ile married Mary East, who lived to the advanced age of ninety-six, and · died in Oglethorpe county, Georgia, having gone back to that State after the death of her husband. Hon. E. II. East, of Nashville, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume, is a descendant of the same East family,

The "C" in Col. Gallaway's name stands for Camp- bell, he having been named for Colin Campbell, a con- spicuous character in Scottish history, and the Galla- ways and Campbells being of kith and kin.

Col. Gallaway's mother, ner Miss Mary McDowell was the daughter of John MeDowell, a native Irishman, who came to this country, the only one of his family when a boy. He settled first in Oglethorpe county, Georgia, moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, thence to Lawrence county, Alabama, and thence to Moulton, where he engaged in the hat trade and made a hand- some property. In early manhood, he served as an American soldier in the Revolutionary war, for which he drew a pension till his death at Moulton, Alabama, in 1841, eighty odd years of age. , Col. Gallaway's mother was a member of the Baptist church, and was celebrated for her piety, charity and fine practical sense, just the wife, indeed, for an educated man like her hus- band. The fine vein of broad, every-day business sense that characterizes the son, was derived from the mother, whom, in this respect, and in his keen sense of the ludi- crous, as well as in physique, he more resembles than he does his father.' As will be seen, however, from his

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portrait accompanying this sketch, Col. Callaway takes also after his father's side, whose mother was an East, and there is a striking resemblance between Judge East and Col. Gallaway, as will appear on comparing their portraits in this volume. Col. Gallaway's mother died at Moulton, Alabama, in 1855, at the age of fifty- seven, leaving six children, all of whom are dead, except the oldest, the subject of this sketch. He has adopted two of his nieces, Lucille and Mary Mc. Wise, daughters of his sister, Elizabeth Gallaway Wise, who died in 1867, leaving these two daughters to his care. Lucille Wise is now the wife of James V. Fussell, a leading merchant at Forrest City, Arkansas, and has one child living, Annie, and one dead, Fanny Gallaway, named. in honor of Col. Gallaway's wife. Mary Me. Wise mar- ried James A. White, a stock dealer at Pulaski, Ten- nessee, and has three children, one, Fanny Wilkes, also named for Mrs. Gallaway.

One of Col. Callaway's cousins, Mrs. John Malone, nee Miss Sallie A. Reedy, is distinguished for having writ- ten more poetry of a high order than any poetess in the South.

Having received the advantages of a common school education up to the age of sixteen, Col. Gallaway's father then placed him in his office as deputy clerk, and there his history begins, which, en passant, it may be well to say, was rather boisterous and tempestuous. Indeed, he was celebrated as being the wildest boy in the county. When his father found he could not man- age him, he entered into a conspiracy with Hon. Thomas M. Peters, since chief justice of Alabama, for the pur- pose of bringing about a reformation in the wayward youngster. The terms of the conspiracy were, that his father should disinherit him and Judge Peters, then editor of the Moulton News, should take him into his printing office to see what could be made of him. They did not have to wait long for the opportunity, for one day young Gallaway whipped a youngster about his own age most terribly. According to the programme, then, when Callaway went to his father's office as usual, his father took him to the door and told him to go; never to put his foot in his father's house of office again; that he had tried to control him and had failed, and now he must face the world and take care of himself. Galla way flew to his mother for comfort and intercession, but she being in the secret also, ordered him out of the house. Here was a perplexity. Although the mother permitted him to get his clothes, she would not relent in her banishment. Taking a seat on the court-house fence steps, the young man seriously contemplated the situation, and was lost in wondering what he would do, when Judge Peters, answering to his cue, saw him, and, as if by accident, passed by, and inquired, " Why so sad? What's the matter?" The matter was explained. Peters seemed greatly distressed, offered his sympathy and promised to intercede, provided Gallaway would go to work in his office and change his wild course of liv-

ing. He promised to give him one hundred dollars for his services the first year, without board, and try and induce his parents to let him board at home, provided he promised to do better. That night the arrangements were perfected, and next morning young Callaway was duly installed in the printing office. It was in Novem- ber, 1836, the day of the presidential election between White and Van Buren. The foreman tied a newspaper around him and put him to rolling off election tickets. Three hours' work blistered his hands till they bled. Next day he was put to learning the cases, and in three months from that day he could beat any man in the office setting type, and did set up most of the type for the weekly paper that year. He not only did that, but rolled the forms, did most of the press work on an old- fashioned hand press, mailed the papers to subserib- ers, and was so energetic and so changed in his conduct for a year, that, at the end of his engagement with Peters, his father purchased the office and made him a present of it. Accordingly, he became a newspaper proprietor and publisher, in November, 1837, when only seventeen years old, and continued to publish his paper in Moulton from that date until August, 1840. About that time he was visited by John II. Tice, since cele- brated as a meteorologist, and who recently died at St. Louis, who came at the instance of the Democrats of Tuscumbia, Alabama, and induced him to remove his office to Tuscumbia, at which place he and Tice started the first Democratic paper, the Franklin Democrat, in opposition to the North Alabamian, then edited by Asa Messenger. The contest of 1840 was celebrated for its excitement and bitterness, and Gallaway, young as he was, took an active part in that canvass, and made quite a reputation in it as an editor. In 1841, he sold out the Democrat to A. C. Matthews, removed to De- catur, Alabama, and bought an interest in the Southern Mureury, in connection with William G. Stephenson. There he married, July 21, 1842, Miss Fanny B. Barker, at the residence of her uncle, Col. L. S. Banks.

In December, 1842, he sold out and did not again engage in the newspaper business till January, 1844, when he purchased the Florence Gazette, the oldest paper in the State, having been established in 1819. At that place, he was eminently successful in the news- paper business. There were many bitter contests for Congress in the Florence district, in which he always took a prominent part. In 1850, there was much ex- citement in regard to the passage of the compromise measures. Gen. George S. Houston, afterward governor and United States senator, had long represented that district in Congress, but had retired and was succeeded by David Hubbard, who announced himself an avowed disunionist, on account of the compromise measures. Callaway, although a secessionist, did not believe those measures cause sufficient for a dissolution of the Union, and determined Hubbard should be beaten. On ac- count of his ability as a canvasser and stump speaker,

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aspirants were reluctant to oppose him. Three weeks before the election, Gallaway hoisted at the head of the Gazette, the name of George S. Houston as candidate for Congress. Houston, after making an experiment of a week, became alarmed, withdrew from the canvass, and failed to fill his next appointment. Gallaway hearing of this, said he must be elected. whether a can- didate or not, and should be; kept his name at the head of the paper, urged his support, printed ten thousand circulars, distributed them over the district, went over the district, encouraged Houston, who continued in the canvass from that day and was triumphantly elected, the Whigs rallying to his support. In every canvass thereafter, Gallaway took a prominent position, espe- cially in the contest between Joshua L. Martin, an independent candidate, and Nathaniel Terry, Demo- eratie nominee for governor. He made more character in that exceedingly bitter canvass than in any other up to that time. He made a State reputation. He went to Florence with only two hundred dollars in money : when he left there in September, 1855, he was inde- pendent, with upwards of twenty thousand dollars, so successful had he been in the newspaper business. He located, in 1855, at Aberdeen, Mississippi, and started a newspaper called the " Sunny South," which was also a success, as evidenced by the fact that the original cost was one thousand eight hundred dollars, and in August, 1857, less than two years, he sold the paper for three thousand seven hundred dollars.

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 76

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