Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 79

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 79

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Smith, as chancellor, to have been eminently satisfac- tory, and we submit, as the sense of this meeting, as follows: Be it resolved, that we take pleasure in ex- pressing to Judge Smith the assurance of our high regard, and in bearing testimony to the uniform pa- tience, courtesy, integrity and ability that have charac- terized him as a legal officer, and extend to him a cordial welcome to the bar as a brother lawyer."

In 1883, the leading Republicans of Memphis pre- pared a letter to President Arthur, asking him to appoint Judge Smith to a place in his cabinet, and thus make him the leader of the southern Republicans. This letter shows the integrity of his motives and the honesty with which he adheres to his principles, as well as the high estimate in which he is held by his fellow- citizens. It says: "Give to southern Republicans a leader that they can follow with honor and credit. Such a representative, such a leader, we beg leave to recom- mend in the person of Hon. William M. Smith, one of the most distinguished native-born citizens of the State, and one of the most loyal and devoted Republicans in the South. Never a spoilsman or a place hunter, but always true to his convictions, he allied himself to the Republican party at the very hour of its birth ; and through all its vicissitudes and struggles, has stood steadily by it, braving every criticism that is brought upon him, and by his integrity and purity of character, disarming hostility and winning public confidence. Though unswerving in his political convictions and con- duct, even in the most heated party excitement his honesty, purity and patriotism have never been assailed, and he commands the respect of every one who knows him."

Judge Smith has always been modest and retiring, as is evidenced by the number of times he has declined to be brought forward when party and friends wished it. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South.

PROF. JAMES E. SCOBEY.

MURFREESBOROUGH.

TI HITS gentleman, who has long been prominently identified with the educational interests of Ten- nessee, was born near Lebanon, in Wilson county, Ten- nessee, Jaimary 3, 1834. He was the son of John B. Scobey, a native of the same county, whose father, James Scobey, came to Tennessee from North Carolina, before Tennessee was admitted to the Union as a State, settling at Station Camp Fort, in what is now Summer county.

Prof. Scobey's mother was Miss Sallie Sweatt, daugh- ter of Edward Sweatt, who moved to Tennessee from North Carolina, in 1822. Her father was a prominent

man in North Carolina, and represented his county in the Legislature for several years. After coming to Tennessee, he became distinguished as a teacher and a preacher. He was a good linguist and a good man, of broad scholarship.

Prof. Scobey's great-grandfather, on his maternal side, came from England, and his great-grandmother from Ireland. They settled in Maryland at an early day, and moved from there to North Carolina, whence the family migrated to Tennessee. Paternal ancestors were all from Ireland.

Prof. Scobey was brought up on a farm and sent to

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the common schools until his nineteenth year. Al- though his parents were in easy circumstances, he was taught to work hard. His father, believing in physical labor to develop a boy, placed him in a blacksmith shop at the age of seventeen, and he remained there for two years. He thementered as a student at Franklin Col- lege, near Nashville, and graduated in July, 1851, in a class of six, all of whom are now dead, with the exception of himself and Dr. T. K. Powell, a prominent physician, of Haywood county, Tenne- sta ..

After completing his education, be chose teaching as his profession, and immediately entered upon the work at Green Hill, in Wilson county. In April, 1855, he became principal of Union Academy, at Tucker's Cross- roads, six miles east of Lebanon, and conducted there a large and flourishing school till the outbreak of the war. At the close of the war he again entered the edu- cational field, and in 1867, established, near Green Hill, in Wilson county, an academy called Oakland School, which continued in a flourishing condition, and became quite famous under his presidency, until 1872, when he moved to Murfreesborough, and became presi- dent of Murfreesborough Female Institute, now Haynes Institute, which position he still fills. He has been one of the foremost educators of the State, a live, wide- awake, progressive advocate of the school interests of Tennessee ever since the war, and has attended a great number of educational conventions and teachers' insti- tutes, always taking a lively interest in schools, both public and private. In 1867, he was a delegate to the educational convention at Nashville, and introduced in that body a resolution to establish a State normal school, since which the State Normal College of Tennessee, au institution justly regarded as one of Tennessee's bright- est jewels, has been established. In 1883, he was made principal of the summer normal school, at Monteagle, on the Cumberland mountain, a compliment which was at once a tribute to his ripe scholarship, and a recogni- tion of his eminent and constant services in the cause of education.

In 1860, Prof. Scobey was made a colonel in the Ten- nessee militia. In December, 1861, he volunteered for the Confederate service, and, becoming captain of com- pany (, Fifty-fifth Tennessee regiment, Col. U. L. Me- Koin commanding, was mustered into service at Camp Trousdale, Summer county. He took part in the two days' battle at Shiloh, in April, 1862, commanding his company on both days, and after the fight, being the only officer of his regiment left in line, he conducted its retreat to Corinth. Immediately after this he was taken sick with putrid sore throat and fever, and was sent to West Point, Mississippi, on the sick list. Dur- ing this illness, from the effects of which he has never fully recovered, his regiment was consolidated with the Forty-fourth Tennessee regiment, and he received

an honorable discharge from the service, signed by Lieut .- Gen. Hardee. However, in December, 1862, he again entered the service as a commissary, with the rank of captain, and was stationed at Cartersville, Georgia. for nearly a year, collecting supplies for the army. He remained in the service this time till near the close of the war.

Prof. Scobey was a Whig before the war, and in 1861, was the Whig candidate for the Legislature from Wils son county. Being opposed to the war, and in favor of a compromise, he made the canvass on that issue, and though a young man, and opposed by two very able men, William L. Martin and Judge Abram Caruthers, he had every prospect of a triumphant election until the whole aspect of affairs was changed by the battle of Bull Run, and he was defeated by a majority of eighty- seven votes. After it was found that the war was a fixed fact, he took sides with the South. Since the war, he has taken no actie part in politics, but when voting has voted with the Democrats.

Prof. Scobey was married, near Lebanon, August 31, 1859. to Miss Alice Harris, daughter of Maj. James S. Harris, a prominent citizen of Wilson county, and a successful business man. Her mother was Miss Waters, of a well-known Wilson county family. Mrs. Scobey was educated under Mrs. Charlotte Fanning, at Frank- lin College, near Nashville, and graduated there in June, 1859, just two months before her marriage. She was a lady of fine accomplishments, and assisted her husband, teaching in his schools from the time of their marriage up to 1872. She was a devout member of the Christian church, and noted for her sweet and amiable disposition and her charities. She died August 29, 1881, having been the mother of six children: (1). Jennie, now a teacher in layres Institute, Murfrees- borough. (2). Gussie, now a teacher in Haynes Insti- tute, Murfreesborough. (3). James B. (4). John E. (5). Alice. (6). Robert.

Prof. Scobey is a member of the Masonic fraternity, having been made a Master Mason at Lebanon, in 1858. He has been a member of the Christian church since 1849. Mrs. Scobey was a member of the same church.

As a man, Prof. Scobey has an air of friendliness about him which makes him popular with all who know him. As a teacher, he is a success, being a fine scholar and having always conducted flourishing schools with increasing reputation. This is the verdiet of those who have had opportunity to judge. He has devoted him- self exclusively to the profession of teaching, and has followed it with close attention, being always ready to seize any opportunity for improvement. He has been a constant reader of all sorts of educational works, and a participant in educational meetings. Such a man, so ardent and devoted to a calling so important, is worth much to a State, and deserves to be honored.

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REV. JOHN BERRY MCFERRIN, D. D.

NASHVILLE.

T" THIS remarkable man, whose name is reverenced and beloved in thousands of households, not only in Tennessee, but throughout the length and breadth of the country, is one of the best and purest types of the native Tennessean. He was born. in Rutherford county, June 15, 1807. He was a most extraordinary child, grew very rapidly, and walked when only seven months of age ; was never sick a day, never took a dose of medicine, and never had a headache until after he was eighteen.

He was placed in school at the very early age of four years, and he has no recollection of the time when he could not read the alphabet. He learned moderately fast, and received a plain education in the English branches only, at such country schools as were then ac- cessible, supplemented by studious habits and self-cul- ture at home.

He joined the church at thirteen, and from his carly days led a life of strict morality and obedience. His habits have always been as regular as the measure of well-written music-a time to rise, a time to eat, and a time to sleep. He never committed a wrong intention- ally, never swore an oath, was never in a circus, never witnessed a theatrical performance, and such was his early moral training, and so thoroughly did his parents impress upon him the value and importance of truth that, if he ever told a lie, he has no recollection of it. He never received but one correction at school, and but one punishment from his parents, and that was ad- ministered with a small twig, not more than eight inches in length. In after years, Dr. McFerrin ruled his own children by the laws of love and kindness, and never chastised them, except with a straw.

His early life was made up of the ordinary routine of farm work, following the plow, going to mill, driving wagons, etc. . Hle first felt that he was called to preach at the age of eighteen, and became a licensed minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, October 8, 1825. He became a member of the Tennessee con- ference, as a traveling preacher, in November. 1825, and preached his first sermon at Tuscumbia, Alabama. He then traveled three circuits-Franklin, Lawrence and Limestone, Alabama; was two years among the Indians, as a missionary ; was stationed at Huntsville, Alabama, at Pulaski, Tennessee, and three times at Nashville; was presiding elder of the Florence, Ala- bama district, and of the Cumberland district, in Ten- nessee ; was editor of the Nashville Christian Advocate from 1840 to 1858; was missionary in the Confederate army, and faithfully accompanied the Tennessee troops throughout the arduous campaigns and perilous strug- gles of the late war, administering to the sick and wounded, helping to bury the dead, and preaching sal-

vation to the living. He has been twice book agent for the Methodist Episcopal church, South, serving in that capacity eighteen years; was secretary of the board of missions, for the same church, twelve years, and has been a member of the general conference, continuously, from 1836 to 1886. He is the author of " The History of Methodism in Tennessee," which has been printed in three volumes, octavo, of five hundred pages each, and has met with extensive sale ; is also author of sev- eral published sermons, numerous addresses, and many contributions to the press of Tennessee and other States.

Accompanied by his daughter, Miss Kittie Lou Me- Ferrin (now Mrs. Robert W. Bryan), Dr. McFerrin went as a delegate to the Eeumenical Conference, which met in London, England, in September, 1881. During this tour, he visited and held services in various churches in London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Paris, and New-castle on-Tyne, and was one of the editors of the history of the meeting of this conference.

He was early connected with the missionary society, and interested in all the general movements of the Ten- nessee conference and of his church, and was one of the prime movers in originating and building La Grange College, in Alabama. The title of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by this college, in 1847, and by Randolph Macon College, Virginia, the same year. He has been a general conference officer longer than any man in the church, North or South, a period of forty- four years. He was never nominated for any office to which he was not elected. and was nev'r censured for his official conduct in any position he has held. While editor of the Christian Advocate, he, through the press, entered into all the theological controversies, discussing the dogmas that divide the denominations, and espe- cially those conflicting with his own creed. He has made no departures; the Methodist creed, as taught by the standard writers, and set forth in the Discipline. he holds now, without any abatements or innovations. But, as he grows older, he becomes more catholic in his feelings; not less a Methodist, but more philan- thropic, and more charitable toward other denomina- tions.

Personally, and in physique, Dr. MeFerrin bears out the sturdy quality of his moral character, the sturdy purity of his piety. He has a large frame, strongly built, stands six feet in his boots, and has an average weight of two hundred and ten pounds. His features are all prominent and pronounced; craggy, projecting . brows; eyes blue and penetrating, capable of varied expressions and emotions, and seem to speak and give emphasis to the language he utters. Capable of great endurance, hard work and close application, his bear

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ing is stalwart and self-reliant, and he has the appear- ance of one who has been exposed to all weathers, but which only seems to have doubled his capacity for more labors to come. Perfectly composed, of won- derfully even temperament, he has the look of a man who is never surprised, but always cahn, cool, and collected. A person would have to travel far and search diligently for a man whose eyes are capable of such varied expression, and whose manner is so per- fectly free from self- consciousness. But one other such man comes to the memory of the writer, and that is Joseph Jefferson. Both of these men " hold the mir- ror up to nature," and each hides himself from his au- dience by losing himself in the subject he handles.

The question naturally presents itself' to one study- ing the life and public services, and considering the in- tellectual potency and the reputation of Dr. MeFerrin, why his church has not made him one of its general superintendents-elevated him to the episcopacy. In Nashville, the theory is that he and Rev. Dr. A. L. P. Green were both equally worthy, but as both lived in Tennessee, the general conference could not elect both, and so elected neither. He has been voted for several times for bishop of the church, and undoubtedly would have been elected in 1854, had it not been for the death of his first wife, and the consequent state of his home affairs, which forbade his acceptance. Again, in 1866, his friends would have called him to fill this position, but just prior to the meeting of the conference he was crippled by a fall from a railroad train, and his recovery was then very doubtful.

Not only is Dr. MeFerrin a Methodist in faith, but he is methodical in the preparation of his sermons. Yet. his plans are very simple. He first studies his subject carefully, then blocks it out in his mind, and makes it a uniform rule to speak extemporaneously. This, perhaps, is one of the secrets of his great success as a pulpit orator. His manner is that of deep and serious earnestness ; his discourses bear the stamp of his own intellectuality and originality, and his powerful ex- hortations make their way and find lodgment in the hearts of his hearers. His motto in life has been : one business, punctuality, energy, Strict fidelity, and love to God and man.

Dr. MeFerrin has been twice married. His first mar- riage occurred September 18, 1833, to Miss A. A. Pro- bart, of Nashville, only child of William Y. and Sarah Probart, who became the mother of five children, Sarah Jane, James William, John A., Elizabeth Johnston and Almira Probart, and died near Nashville, in May, 1851.

Hle married the second time, November 12, 1855, Miss Cynthia T. MeGavock, daughter of John and Elizabeth - MeGavock, of Nashville. The present Mrs. McFerrin is the great-granddaughter of Gov. MeDowell, of Vir- ginia. Her sister, Mary MeGavock, was the wife of E. P. McGinty, formerly editor of the Nashville Whig,

and at one time a member of the Legislature from Montgomery county, Tennessee. Mrs. McFerrin was educated at the old Nashville Female Academy, is a cheerful, active, industrious home-loving woman, and has discharged the offices of wife, step-mother and mother to her husband's perfect satisfaction. She is the mother of three children-Kittie Lou, Mary Mc- Ginty and Elizabeth MeGavock.

Dr. MeFerrin's oldest child, Sarah Jane MeFerrin, was born March 6, 1812; graduated at Columbia, Ten- nessee, and married, November 15, 1860, to James Anderson, from Virginia, formerly a school teacher, now a farmer, in Summer county, Tennessee. Their children are, John MeFerrin Anderson, a rising young lawyer of Nashville, William Wade, James Douglass, Walter Leake, Ewell Avery, Mary Mira, Virgie Lou, Dora aud Frank. The second child, James William Mc- Ferrin, was born July 2, 1846; entered the Confederate army a lad of seventeen; was wounded and captured by the Federal forees at the battle of Nashville, in De- cember, 1864, and remained in prison at Camp Douglas, near Chicago, till the close of the war. Ile was for several years connected with the wholesale shoe house of Settle & Kinnaird, at Nashville. He married in December, 1868, Miss Dora Cook, of Nashville, and while on their wedding tour were on board the steamer United States when it collided with the America, burnt and sunk in the Ohio river, above Louisville, barely escaping with their lives. His wife died, April 25, 1875, leaving one child, Annic. The father met his death by a railroad accident, near Birmingham, Ala- bama, November 16, 1881. The third child, John A. MeFerrin, was born March 26, 1848; was educated at Nashville, and at Emory College, Virginia ; united with the Methodist church in 1865, and was granted license to preach in 1869; now st itioned at Ashland City, Ten- nessee. He married Miss Martha Abston, June 28, 1871, and has five children, John B., Mary D., Almira, James Abston and Virginia. Elizabeth Johnson Me- Ferrin was born December 15, 1850, and died at the age of three. Almira Probart MeFerrin, was born May 8, 1852; married Rev. P. A. Sowell, in September, 1877, and has one child-Tenie MeFerrin.

The Doctor's oldest child, by the second wife, is Kittie hou MeFerrin, who was born December 24, 1856; graduated at Ward's Seminary, Nashville; mar- ried, February 15. 1882, Robert W. Bryan, of the Nash- ville Transfer Company ; has one child-Claiborne Nel- son. Mary MeGinty MeFerrin, was born March 1, 1859, and died in infancy. Elizabeth McGavock MeFerrin, was born July 23, 1861, and married, June 15, 1881, J. H. Yarbrough, real estate broker, of Nashville.

Dr. McFerrin's great-grandfather, William McFerrin, sr., was one of three brothers who came from Ireland about 1730, and resided, for some time, in York county, Pennsylvania. The Doctor's grandfather, also named William MeFerrin. was a patriot soldier in the Revolu-

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tionary war, and was at the battle of King's Mountain. He died in Mississippi, more than ninety years of age. The Doctor's paternal grandmother was the daughter of James Laughlin, whose family came from Belfast, Ireland. His maternal grandmother was a Miss Camp- bell, of an extensive Virginia family.

The parents of Dr. McFerrin, James McFerrin and Jane Campbell Berry, were born in Washington county, Virginia. Both families came from Ireland more than one hundred and fifty years ago, and stopped in York county, Pennsylvania, where they separated, part going to Western Pennsylvania and Ohio, and the immediate family coming to Kentucky and Tennessee. Dr. Me- Ferrin's parents settled in Rutherford county, Tennes- see, in 1804, just one year after the county was organ- ized.

The MeFerrin family were originally Presbyterians, but became Methodists in 1820. James McFerrin, Dr. MeFerrin's father, was with Gen. Jackson, in the Creek war; was, for a number of years, colonel of the Fifty-third Tennessee regiment; became a Metho- dist preacher, in 1821, and preached twenty years. Ile died in September, 1840, at the age of fifty-six, and was buried with Masonic honors. He left two daughters and four sous, three of whom were Methodist preachers, and four of his grandsons are now licensed ministers of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. The family is noted for its preachers, there having been thirteen in the immediate family, all Methodists.

Dr. John . B. McFerrin is a double cousin to James MeFerrin Berry, whose son, ex-Gov. Berry, of Arkan- as, is now one of the United States senators from that State. Ile is also a double cousin to B. II. Berry, whose

son, Hon. C. P. Berry, is a member of Congress from California.

If the young men of to-day, who read this biography, ask how Dr. MeFerrin became a leader, and one among the great men of his church, they may be answered : 1. Hle has lived a long time and usefully. 2. He is en- dowed by nature with a strong mind. 3. He is devoted to doing God's work, and from this consceration comes his courage. Truth and right, in all their power, have taken hold upon him, and he is, like John the Baptist, a "voice; " not proclaiming himself, but giving utterance to the truth that has inspired him. 4. He has followed one calling, and given all his powers to the work of the ministry. As a pulpit orator, his success is largely at- tributable to the fact that he knows humanity, its sor- rows and sufferings, its passions and prejudices, as the musician knows the stops of the church organ. 5. And lastly, but not to be lightly esteemed, since it is also a gift of God, comes his physical power and capability of endurance, which have enabled him to work on un- tiringly, where other men must have faltered and suffered defeat. No man in Tennessee has impressed himself more deeply and permanently upon the public mind than John B. Mcferrin, because he is justly regarded as a good man. He is a profound thinker, a ready writer, a forcible preacher, a man of faith, a mus- cular Christian, a first-class financier and business man, as the general conference has most reason to know, from his superb management of the publishing house. He will go down as an historic character, eminent among the most prominent Tennesseans of his time, and his memory will be embalmed in the hearts of his people, and future generations will rise up and call him blessed.

GEN. MATT. MARTIN.

TULLAHOMA.

T' HIS distinguished orator, soldier and patriot, whose mother was a cousin of Henry Clay, of ' Kentucky, and whose paternal grandmother, Betty Marshall, was a cousin of Chief Justice Marshall, of the supreme court of the United States, was born the youngest of a family of thirteen, in Bedford county, Tennessee, June 18, 1812-on the same day that the formal declaration of war was made against Great Britain by Congress, which was proclaimed by Presi- dent. Madison on the following day.

He was educated-partly at the Manual Labor School at Princeton, Kentucky, and partly at the U'ni- versity of Nashville, under President Philip Lindsley. At the age of twenty-three, he married, went to farming in Bedford county, made money very fast, and became, for those times, very wealthy. But having no power to

refuse a friend a favor, he went security too liberally, and, per sequence, much of his wealth took wings and flew away. He became not only eminent as a farmer, but was one of the most prominent citizens in his section, occupying a position so reputable that his political party urged him repeatedly to accept a nomi- nation for Congress when it was useless to run-he being a Whig, and the congressional district (James K. Polk's) overwhelmingly Democratic. Again, his personal party friends urged him to announce himself a candidate for governor against Hon. Isham G. Har- ris, but this he also declined.

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 79

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