USA > Tennessee > Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee > Part 78
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Maj. Rambaut's grandfather, Richard Rambaut, a merchant of Bordeaux, France, came to America shortly after the Revolution. His paternal grandmother had one of the most eventful lives ever known by any woman. She was the daughter -- in fact the only child-of the Count De LaRoche, of Saint Domingo (a younger son of the famous La Rochefoucald family), being, by virtue of this, sole inheritor of the Saint Domingo estates, and a countess in her own right. She was betrothed iu early childhood to her cousin, the only son of the Duo De Tour LaRoche, and sent to France to be educated there, in the old family chateau, as its future mistress. The Revolution, with all its horrors, broke out. All aristocrats were either killed or thrown into the Bastile and afterward guillotined. Her uncle, the Duke, and his son, were both victims, the father being guillotined, the son dying in prison from want and confinement. The little countess was stolen off by an old family re- tainer, and after many hardships and hair-breadth es- capes, returned to her father in Saint Domingo. Then, after a few years of comparative peace, she was again betrothed to another more distant cousin, Eugene La- Rochefoucald, heir to the duke of that title, and also, should they ever regain their rights, to the dukedom of De Tour LaRoche. The insurrection took place di- rectly after the marriage. She and her mother, after seeing the father and young husband massacred before their eyes, escaped, through the fidelity of two old ne- groes, to Baltimore, where these two faithful creatures supported their mistresses by their work -- the man, Jacques, by his trade of ship caulking, the woman, Lu- cinde, by mending tine lace in pattern, which she had learned while with her young mistress in the convent in
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Paris. Richard Rambaut, a merchant at Petersburg, went to Baltimore to buy his flour, met the young and beautiful widow at the house of a friend, also a French ,migre, and courted and married her. The mother married again, a Captain La Touche, of the French navy, whom she also met in Baltimore, at the house of Madame La Moricire, one of those unfortunate refugees also. The famous French philosopher, the Duke De La Rochefoucald, was a direct ancestor. The carly history of the family is that of the " La Roche," who founded the town of LaRochelle, in France. It is related of the Due De Tour LaRoche that he was considered the most polite gentleman at the court of Louis XVI., and that he walked on the scaffold with a rose-bud in his button hole, for which he spent his last franc, and tak- "ing his laced chapeau from his head, placed it under his left arm and bowed with inimitable grace to his executioner. This incident is related in an account in Harper's Magazine of famous French aristocrats. Maj. Rambaut's grandmother was the Countess Elize Warrenne De LaRoche, and the Duchess La Rochefou- cald, at the time of her second marriage, but as all titles had been done away with by the Revolution, she was only called Mademoiselle and Madame.
Maj. Rambaut's mother, Miss Jane Hammond, was
the daughter of Joel Leroy Hammond, who was born in South Carolina, at Hammond's Mountain, and was of the same family with Senator Hammond. He moved to Petersburg, Virginia, in carly manhood, and was for many years a merchant in that city, and held, for a long time, an office in the civil service of the United States. His wife (Maj. Rambaut's maternal grandmother) was a Miss Durell, the daughter of Rebecca Douglas, the only daughter of Sir Robert Douglas, of Tiddesdale, Scotland. She was accustomed to wear the old Dong- las crest, and at the burial place of the family, in old Blandford church, Petersburg, one of the tombs also bears the erest of the Douglases. A picture of the old family home is painted on a panel over the mantel in the dining-room of the old Rambaut homestead in Pe- tersburg.
Maj. Rambaut began life with nothing but his talents and his energy. He received no inheritance, but has made what he has by working for it. He is upright in his transactions, looking well to his reputation. He has few enemies. lle is characterized by strength of deter- mination and tenacity of purpose. When he under- takes an enterprise he brings all his energies to bear upon it. His strong points are perseverance and the power of concentration.
GEN. JOSEPH B. PALMER.
MURFREESBOROUGH.
TI HIS gentleman, distinguished as a lawyer, a po- litical orator, a Confederate general, a Mason of prominence, and a man of high-toned honor and fidelity to principle in all the walks of life, appears in this vol- ume as one of the best specimens of the native-born, representative Tennessean. He first saw the light in Rutherford county, Tennessee, November 1, 1825. His father, Dr. W. H. Palmer, a native of Halifax county, Virginia, came to Tennessee and married about the year 1822, and settled in Rutherford county. His uncle, Dr. Jeffrey Palmer. of Halifax county, Virginia, was a man of considerable distinction as a physician and scholar in his day, and died leaving an only daughter, now residing in Richmond, Virginia. Gen. Pahner's grandfather, Moses Palmer, was a man of prominence and ability in the "Old Dominion," and by his exer- tions, and through his means, the thriving town of Halifax Court-house was chiefly built.
The mother of Gen. Palmer was Miss Mildred Johns. Her father was Joseph B. Johns, a native of Halifax county, Virginia, who married in Virginia, and came to Tennessee about the beginning of the present century. Hle first settled near Nashville, but subsequently moved to Rutherford county and became a large planter. He died, leaving four sons and five daughters.
Gen. Palmer's parents both died when he was very young, leaving him their only surviving child, conse- quently he was raised by his grandfather. The mother died first, and shortly after the father went to the Northwest country and took a prominent part in the Black Hawk war, settling, at its close, in Illinois, where he practiced medicine until the time of his death.
Thus left an orphan, he was brought up by his grand- parents. on their farm, and was taught to do all the work incidental to the life of a farmer's boy up to the age of seventeen, which was the means of inculeating habits of industry, and laid the. foundation of his splendid physical constitution, His educational advantages were at first confined to the old field schools, which were then so common in the country. On January 1, 1844, he entered Union University at Murfreesborough, where he pursued his studies more than two years. After leaving the university, he was under the private tutorage of Rev. Dr. Joseph Eaton for several years. He then began life for himself as a school- teacher, his institution being located about four miles west of Murfreesborough, where, for one year, he con- ducted one of the largest and most successful schools ever taught by any one man in Rutherford county, the school often reaching over one hundred pupils. The
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students of this school are now scattered all over Ruth- erford county, heads of families, and still greatly at- tached to their teacher, personally and otherwise. After this he began to read law at Murfreesborough, in the office of Hardy M. Burton, who died in 1852, United States consul at the island of St. John. He was ad- mitted to the bar at the March term of the circuit court of Murfreesborough, in 1848, by Judge Samuel Ander- son, one of the ablest circuit judges who ever presided in Tennessee, and has, with the exception of the period of the war, continued to practice successfully, with a full practice in all the courts up to this time. He has always been fond of his profession, very studious, and very attentive to the causes of his clients.
In the sectional strife which preceded the outbreak of the war, Gen. Pahner, who had always been a straight Whig, was a stanch Union man, and made many speeches to the people of Rutherford and adjoin- ing counties in favor of the Union, and against a resort to arms to settle the difficulties of the country, main- taining throughout that the genius of our government implied a settlement by reason and diplomacy, and not by force, but when force caine, and President Lincoln called troops into the field to settle the difficulty, as a melancholy fact he recognized that the Union was broken, and that there was no other chance to adjust the strife except on the field. When this assurance came, he unhesitatingly took sides with the South, and raised for the southern service, first a company, and then a regiment, of which he was made colonel by unani- mous vote. This was the Eighteenth Tennessee regi- ment of infantry, a gallant body of soldiers, which after- ward, became so distinguished for its services under him. He continued to command the Eighteenth Ten- nessee till the summer of 1864, when he was made a brigadier-general and placed in command of the brigade originally organized by him, and, previous to that time, commanded by Gen. John C. Brown. After this pro- motion, there were added to his. command the Fifty- fourth and Sixty-third Virginia regiments, and the Fifty-eighth and Sixtieth North Carolina regiments, which gave him the largest brigade in the Confederate army of Tennessee. He continued in command of this brigade through a part of what is known as the Dalton and Atlanta campaign, and in Gen, Hood's campaign in Tennessee, in the fall of 1864, and on down to the reor- ganization of the Army of Tennessee, under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, at which time he was placed in command of all the Tennessee troops in Johnston's army then in the field, and so continued till the date of the surrender at Greensborough, North Corolina, April 26, 1865, his brigade not being paroled till the 2d of May follow- ing. After the surrender he marched all the Tennes- see troops into their State, and delivered them to their homes, during the month of May, 1865.
:. Gen. Palmer was at the battle of Fort Donelson, and was surrendered there, with the whole of Buckner's
army, February 16, 1862, and was imprisoned in Fort Warren, Boston harbor, Massachusetts, until a general exchange of prisoners, which took place in September, 1862, when he wa's re-elected colonel of his old regi- ment. He was actively engaged in the battles of Mur- freesborough from December 28, 1862, to January 2, 1863. This was his home, and as the whole country was familiar to him from early boyhood, Gen. Bragg relied upon him very largely for information. On the last day of the battle, he was in the celebrated fight known as the Breckinridge charge, during which his horse was shot under him, and he was himself three times wounded, though he refused to leave the field till the fight was over. Though a colonel in rank at the time, he was in command of a brigade in this fight. This was a most desperate battle ; more than two thou- sand men, including several field officers, being killed and wounded in one brief hour. By the wounds re- ceived at this battle he was disabled till the 12th of April following, when he again took the field.
In the battle of Chickamauga, September 19, 1863, he was desperately wounded while leading a successful charge against the enemy, on the first day of the fight, a little before sunset. This wound was for a long time considered mortal, but from it he finally recovered, leaving his right shoulder badly injured and his right arm partly paralyzed, which has so continued through life. IIe rejoined his command on the 12th of July following, and took part in all the battles in front of Atlanta, and the battle of Jonesborough, where he was again slightly wounded. After this he, with his com- mand, came into Middle Tennessee with Gen. Hood, and in connection with Gen. Forrest's cavalry. His brigade bore a conspicuous and gallant part in the bloody battle at Franklin, in November, after which he was sent on an expedition against the strongly fortified town of Murfreesborough. Here he was engaged in a heavy fight near Murfreesborough, December 7, 1864, in which fight the division of Gen. William B. Bate also partietpated.
After the battles around Nashville, he retreated with Hood's army southward, by way of Tupelo, Mississippi, Mobile, Alabama, and thence by way of Augusta, Georgia, Columbia, South Carolina, into North Caro- lina, where he took part in the battle of Bentonville, under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, March 20, 1865. In this battle his brigade was made the directing column, and drove the enemy before them, successfully leading a charge of more than one mile, and carrying two strongly fortified lines. His brigade lost heavily, and he himself was again slightly wounded, but did not leave the field. His inspector-general, Capt. Gideon HI. Lowe, was killed at his side, and his horse was shot from under him. Among others killed on this day were Col. Saffes and Lieut. - Col. Borgas. both of the Twenty-sixth Tennessee regiment. Thus'ends the military career of Gen. Palmer, in which, as one who knows him well
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says, he 'made a record of which any man would have a right to be proud. In military affairs he was essen- tially a man of duty. He never got a furlough, never missed a fight or a drill, or any other camp duty, except when actually shot away from his colors. He always gave the strictest obedience to orders, and when he received instructions from his commander, carried them out, if he could, not stopping to count up the difficulties.
About the beginning of the war, one of Gen. Palmer's Whig friends met him on the public square, in Nash- ville, and observing his Confederate uniform, asked him, "What does this mean?" " It means," said he, "that I am doing my duty by going as my people are going." His men would follow him anywhere, for the love which they bore their trusted and idolized com- mander. In Hood's Tennessee campaign, in November and December, 1864, Gen. Palmer's men, many of them barefooted and half naked- some of them with old blankets tied around their feet by way of shoes-fol- lowed him as enthusiastically as ever, and when he drew them up and made a speech to them, cold and shivering and hungry as they were, they cheered him to the echo, and bade him lead them forward once more to face the guns of the enemy.
Gen. Palmer has been twice married. His first wife, to whom he was married February 15, 1854, was Miss Ophelia MI. Burrus, daughter of Fayette Burrus, a farm- er, of Rutherford county, who was socially highly con- nected throughout Middle Tennessee, being related to the Browns, Haskells and Readys, names. so familiar throughout the State. Mrs. Palmer's mother was Miss Eliza Ready, daughter of the late ('harles Ready, sr., of Readyville. Mrs. Palmer died in July, 1856, leaving an ouly son, Horace E. Palmer, now the law partner of his father, at Murfreesborough, an attorney of unusual ability, and a gentleman worthy of his distinguished sire. Mrs. Palmer was a graduate of Soule College, at Murfreesborough, and was noted for her many accom- plishments and for her great personal beauty, being one of the most beautiful women that Tennessee has ever produced.
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The second marriage of Gen. Palmer, which took place in June, 1869, was to Mrs. Margaret J. Mason, of Pulaski, Tennessee, a daughter of Andrew M. and Mary T. Ballentine, of that place. The Ballentine family is well known in Tennessee, and has produced some distinguished men. One of Mrs. Palmer's broth- ers, John G. Ballentine is now a member of Congress from the Seventh district of Tennessee. A second brother, W. F. Ballentine, represented Giles county in the Tennessee Legislature in 1882 and 1883. A third brother, - --- Ballentine, is a wealthy merchant and farmer, at Sardis, Mississippi ; and a fourth, Andrew, is a farmer, at Pulaski, Tennessee. Mrs. Palmer is a graduate of Nashville Female Academy, under Dr. C. D. Elliott, and is well known in the social circles of
Nashville and throughout Middle Tennessee, as a well - read, highly accomplished and intellectual woman.
Gen. Palmer was made a Master Mason in Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 18, at Murfreesborough, July, 1817 ; became a Royal Arch Mason in Pythagoras Chapter, No. 23, in 1818; a Knight Templar in Nashville Com- mandery, No. 1, in 1850; is a charter member of Murfreesborough Commandery, No. 10; has been Mas- ter of Lodge, High Priest, Eminent Commander of Commandery, Grand Commander of Knights Templar, in 1872, and is a charter member of Sinai Lodge of Perfection, No. 4, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
Before the war, Gen. Palmer was a straight Whig, and was opposed to the Know Nothing movement of his party, but remained in the party, and took an active part in every presidential campaign from 1851 up to and including 1860, and made many speeches for the Whig presidential candidates. In 1819, he was elected to the Legislature, from Rutherford county, on the Whig ticket, with Dr. George D. Crosthwait as colleague, and was re-elected in 1851, with Dr. John W. Richardson as colleague, and remained in the Legislature till 1853, four years in all. While in that body he was a mem- ber of the committee on federal relations and the com- mittee on ways and means. During the sessions that Gen. Palmer was in the Legislature, many important measures were before that body, and much of the legis- lation out of which has grown the subsequent debt troubles of Tennessee, was done. Gen. Palmer always voted against issuing a large amount of bonds, and im- posing a large debt upon the people of his State.
Gen. Palmer was mayor of Murfreesborough from 1857 to 1859, inclusive, serving four successive terms in that office. Since the war, he has been a Democrat, zealous, faithful and unswerving, but never a seeker of office.
In 1845, he joined the Methodist church, and has been, to quote the words of a gentleman who has known him well, "a most consistent Christian all his life." His first wife was a Methodist, while the present Mrs. Palmer is a Presbyterian in faith.
In his business, as, in military affairs, Gen. Palmer has always been a man of duty, of constant labor, and of marked devotion to business in preference to pleas- ure. Moreover, he is temperate in his habits, and it is to these things that he owes his success, socially, finan- cially, as a lawyer, and as a general. His object in life has been usefulness to his country and love to his race, and in these conscientious reflections of a well-spent life, he finds ample compensation. His friendships are firm and lasting. A man of soul, men love him for his ready outflow of sympathy. His face gladdens when he meets you, and his whole manner, while you are with him, seems to say, " I am glad you are here, and would like to contribute to your happiness." A wonderfully re- tentive memory, he often recalls incidents of meetings with friends many years before, which at once reminds
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them he has not forgotten them, and binds them to him with hooks of steel. Brave as a soldier, he is yet as gentle as a woman in disposition. Modest in manner, he avoids publicity, and shrinks from seeking those po- sitions to which he is richly entitled by reason of his splendid abilities. He is a self-made, self-educated man of the highest type. For a man so gentle, so amiable,
and so peaceful in private life, it amazed all his sol- diers to see how utterly careless of himself he was in battle, exposing himself on every field, and receiving numerous wou nds, which are bis badges of an honor- able and patriotic gallantry. He was a magnificent soldier-Tennessee had none his superior. He is a su- perb gentleman-Tennessee has few his equal.
IION. WILLIAM M. SMITHI.
MEMPHISN.
T IIIS well-known lawyer, jurist and politician was born in Mecklenburg county, Virginia, May 8, 1830. [u 1831 his father moved to Haywood county, Tennessee, where the son grew up, there receiving his education in the common schools of the county and at LaGrange College, Alabama, graduating from that in- stitution in 1818. After leaving college he returned to Tennessee and began the study of law, at Brownsville, with his brother, Thomas G. Smith, afterward judge of the law court in Memphis. During the year 1849, he was engaged in teaching school in Haywood county, Tennessee. In September, 1850, he entered the law school at Lebanon, and graduated in the summer of 1851, in a class with Gen. A. W. Campbell, of Jackson, Judge John A. Mckinney, of Knoxville, James R. Cocke, of Knoxville, Col. Edward T. Golladay, of Nashville, Judge W. S. MeLemore, of Franklin, Hon. Atha Thomas, ex-State treasurer of Tennessee, and other prominent men. He received his license from Judge Nathan Green, of the Supreme court, and professor in Cumberland University, and Chancellor Ridley, of Murfreesborough, and began the practice of law in partnership with his brother, Thomas G. Smith.
In 1853, he was elected to the Legislature from Hay- wood county, and served one torm, the colleague of Hon. James E. Bailey, Hon. Henry Cooper, Judge James B. Cooke, now on the Supreme bench of Tennes- see, William J. Sykes, Maj. George W. Winchester, Col. John F. House and others, since prominent in the State.
Resuming the practice of law at Brownsville, he con- tinued there until 1860, when he was elected chancellor for the division composed of the counties of Henry, Weakley, Obion, Gibson, Dyer, Haywood, Lauderdale, Tipton and Fayette, and held the chancery courts of those counties until they were suspended by the war. From 1857 to 1860, he was attorney in Haywood county for the Memphis and Ohio, now the Memphis branch of the Louisville and Nashville railroad. After the war he was State director in the same road, beginning in 1866. He took no part in the war, though a Union man throughout.
Judge Smith was raised a Whig, and continued one up to the time the party broke up, but did not approve of the Know Nothing movement in his party, and never belonged to that organization: When the Republican party was organized in the State he joined it, and has been a consistent Republican ever since.
In 1864, he was appointed by Gov. Andrew Johnson as judge of the common law and chancery court of Memphis, moved to that city in December of that year," and continued as chancellor until December, 1869, when he resigned. In 1868, upon the resignation of Judge Hawkins, he was offered the position of Supreme judge, but declined. After his resignation he resumed the practice of law in Memphis. In 1874, he formed a partnership with Mr. W. A. Collier, which has con- tinued till the present time.
In 1870, he was nominated for Supreme judge by the Republican convention, but declined the nomination, and in 1878, declined a nomination for chancellor. In 1880, he was elected to the State senate from Shelby county, and when the Legislature assembled, received the Republican nomination for speaker of the senate, and also received the Republican vote for United States senator on several ballots. In 1882, he was the Repub- lican nominee for Congress in the Tenth district.
Judge Smith was married, September 28, 1853, to Miss Julia Taylor, daughter of Edmund Taylor, of Fay- ette county, Tennessee, who was descended from a Vir- ginia family, which removed to West Tennessee and settled in Haywood and Fayette counties. The family were noted for their honesty, modesty and piety. To this union have been born six children, four sons and two daughters: (1). Paul, born in 1854; died at Mem- phis, February 3, 1881. He was a promising young law- yer. (2). Edmund J., born in 1856. (3). Hunt Macon, born in February, 1860, died July 4, 1885; intelligent, pure, and deeply lamented by a large circle of friends. (4). Willie V., born in 1862. (5). Julian, born in Oc- tober, 1861, and died at West Point, New York, Feb- ruary 24, 1881, while a cadet at the United States Mil- itary Academy. He was a young man of great promise. (6). Martha Augusta, born in July, 1867; died in January, 1868.
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Judge Smith's father was Rev. James Smith, a Meth- odist preacher, who was one of the earliest settlers of Haywood county. His mother was Martha Macon, niece of the Hon. Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina, at one time speaker of the lower house of Congress, and afterward president pro tempore of the senate-a very able and distinguished man.
The following from the leading members of the Mem- phis bar is the best and truest estimate of Judge Smith's character, formed, as it was. by men who knew him well. The extract is taken from a series of resolutions passed by the lawyers of Memphis when he resigned the office of chancellor in 1869: "The retirement of Judge Wil- liam M. Smith from the bench of the chancery court of Memphis, and the termination of the relations that have so long and pleasantly connected him with this bar, present an opportunity to us, which we cheerfully embrace, to declare thus publicly our sense of his merits. We have known Judge Smith during his protracted and arduous service as chancellor, discharging the laborious and delicate duties of office, under a condi- tion of things that tried his capacity, temper and integ- rity ; and thus knowing him, we bear cheerful testimony that he has not failed in either of these high qualities. Presiding in the most important chancery court in the State, with a crowded docket, full of cases presenting new and vexed questions growing out of circumstances incident to the late war, for the decision which he was often without precedent in history or adjudged cases to guide him, his position was both trying and responsible, and if sometimes the soundness of his legal conclusions was questioned by the bar, yet it was not to the dispar- agement of his legal attainments, nor did the taint of suspicion attach to the judicial integrity which guided him to, or the conscientious conviction which accom- panied, these conclusions. In the vindication of his integrity and conscientiousness, as well as of his ability and legal attainments, we cheerfully pronounce Judge
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