Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 85

Author: Speer, William S
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Nashville, A. B. Tavel
Number of Pages: 1278

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As an earnest of the fairness of Mr. Keating in poli- tics, and as further illustrating his style as a writer, the following article, written some years ago, and pub- lished in his paper on the morning that Gen, Grant was the guest of the city of Memphis, is here given: "The people of Memphis will greet Gen. Grant to day with a generous and manly welcome. They will recognize in him the great leader of the northern people during the civil war, the man whom that people delight to honor as their hero. They will greet him as the soldier whose magnanimity twice prevented the humiliation of our greatest soldier- our hero, the immortal Lee. They will greet him as the soldier who refused to make a scene of the surrender at Appomattox, and whose thoughtful- ness and generosity preserved to our officers their swords and to our men the mules and horses with which to be- gin the labors of civil life after four years of bloody, fruitless strife. They will greet him as the soldier who interposed to save our brave Confederate soldiers from the harrassments, and annoyances, and the degradations that radical malignancy had prepared for them as the finale of a petty vengeance. They will greet him as the idolized Jeader of the millions who, from every part of the northern and western States of the Union, sent us

in the years of plague an unstinted help in money, and men and women, accompanied by a tender and Christian solicitude for our sick and dying. He is their repre- sentative, the man whom above all others they delight to honor. For this, putting away the record of the party whose instrument, possibly against his better na- ture, he became, the people of Memphis will take him cordially by the hand. They will recall the traits of a character whose most prominent faults, even from our extreme point of view, lic at the door of his good na- ture, his love of friends, his devotion to those who, at any time, especially in his hours of need, have kindly served him. They will put aside political differences, and self-respecting, will entertain the soldier who, fifteen years ago, rounded a great career by acts that sounded the very depths of a noble nature, and that were a con- trast with the then prevalent sentiment that he stemmed in their accomplishment. He is our fellow-citizen -- he is an American. Now. while the record of the sections is still open, while history is still recording the evi- dences of the great struggle, while so many of the par- ticipants on both sides still survive as active agents of the people in the administration, or in legislating for the administration, of the restored government, it is too much to expect oblivion as to acts that have left their sting and smart to fret and worry us, even to this very hour. But if we recall the events that have chased each other so rapidly since the eyes of the beloved commander at Appomattox were blinded by the tears of the sorest trial of his life, we shall find that we have reason, abundant reason, to be thankful that in so short a time we are again as free men, with none to make us afraid, that we are again in possession of the States the fathers and pio- neers fashioned out of the wilderness, that all the comi- ties between the States of the American Union are re- stored, that the Union itself, to which the South con- tributed so much of brains and blood, is stronger than ever, stronger in its attitude toward the world beyond, and stronger in the affections of the people, Looking back along the pages of the history of our race, we find no parallel to this. Even to our own. day, the hate of England's greatest ruler, Cromwell, is perpetuated by intelligent men. The discords, contentions and feuds born of political differences have for seven hundred years marked the course of parties in Ireland. In Spain three factions, fired to an intensity of zeal by the re- membranees of the past, wait the opportunity to seize the throne of Alfonso; and in France, the legitimist, the Orleanist and the imperialist perpetuate contentions which daily threaten the safety of the republic. Un- like Germany, we have neither an Alsace nor Lorraine. We cannot afford to transmit animosities as heirlooms. Only here, in this land, where strong common sense tempers all we do, was it possible for the surging sea of war to subside and for the genius of the people to evoke by their fiat and their will an effective .Peace, be still.' In the life of a nation, fifteen years is but as a

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day. Yesterday we were at each other's throats, to-day peace reigns in all our borders, and we are enjoying the overflowing fruits of many industries, making the whole world our market. The wounds of war are almost healed. We already read of it in histories. We do not forget it; we do not forget the noble men who gave their lives for us-but the fierceness, the passion and the prejudice of the strife have died out, and tender, grate- ful recollections of them survive. The history of both sections, like the stars upon our flag, are merged. We are, let us hope, upon the threshold of the new era, when all trace of the bloody contest will be blotted out; and we shall be able to say that in a generation we had fought through years of bloody war and wiped out all its stains. A man can win no nobler victory than to triumph over himself, to subject himself to law, to re- strain his impulses, to put passion and belittling preju- dices under foot, and people can offer no higher evidence of their civilization than their subjugation of passion, prejudice and hate and the uucharitableness of sectional strife and party animosities. Looking abroad through all the States, while we find those who would yet warp the judgment of the nation and strain the endurances of the republic, we find the great mass yielding to those kindly influences which strengthen the bonds of the Union, sustain mutual confidence and cement brotherly love. What part this man or that man took in bring- ing this about, we will not to-day stop to inquire. We will enjoy the retrospect. We will halt on the first step toward an engrossing political contest, and will indulge ourselves in one of those pleasant episodes that prove the picture we have drawn. We will entertain Gen. Grant as our guest, and by another generous, hospitable act, hasten forward the day when only the greatest of the achievements of both North and South, a common heritage, will be remembered or recalled."

Notwithstanding Mr. Keating's great abilities as an editor, and as a speaker, one is delightfully surprised to find that one of his chief accomplishments is that of a conversationalist. Not before ordinary company, but with his friends, selected or invited, because they are congenial, and in his own home surrounded by books and pictures and works of art; business all forgotten, ex traneous care banished from his presence. It is then that the heart of this man talks through his intellect to his delighted auditors. It is a good education to be able to listen to him, for his conversation is a flowing rivulet of information, and as the current of his speech sweeps on, one is fascinatingly amazed that an editor, tied down to the treadmill work of commenting upon current events gathered by the telegraph wires, has had time or nerve left to revel in the luxuries of science, phi- losophy, belles-lettres and art, and to become a critical master of subjects embracing so wide a range of in- formation. A cultivated Irishman, only a trace of the wit and humor for which the Irish race is celebrated appears in his conversation. His phrases are diamonds

of thought, simply philosophy, yet mixed with heart and soul. One knows not whether he takes more interest in his subject or his company ; the current of his words, the eloquence of his diction, the depth of thought, and the happy combinations of his ideas, so charm the listener, one has no disposition to enter into the con- versation further than to show attention and apprecia- tion, throw in a word here and there to give direction to it, and encourage the speaker to go on. From his readiness on all subjects, it would seem he has no favorite branch of knowledge, or if he has, it is soci- ology. It is painful to think of such a mind as an editor, for a newspaper is the property of the public, and the editor has contracted to please them. Worse still, the newspaper belongs to the party, and the editor must give up to the party what belongs to mankind. Hle must suppress the rising thought, conceal the honest admission, and if he escapes the adyocacy of party wrong against opposition right, finds it indeed difficult not to at least color his own party statements and dis- color the position of his opponents.

Gen. Colton Green, of Memphis, who has known Mr. Keating long and intimately, says of him: "He is a man of a great deal of earnestness, full of enthusiasm, full of gentleness and sympathy, and strong desire to better the condition of his fellow-man. He is a human- itarian of very broad views, i. e., whose views go beyond ex cathedra ideas, and in all public affairs he is free from provincial prejudices. These traits were illus- trated, first, by the conduct of his paper, the Appeal, for as an editor he has been a teacher, and a moralist as well; then his course during the yellow fever epidemic of 1878, brought him more prominently before the peo- ple than ever. He was an active working member on all the various committees, laboring, counseling and giving them his advice, when it took a brave man to preserve a clear head. He was one of the most prominent actors during those terrible days. After the epidemic had passed, he made persistent effort to educate the people in the ways of sanitary reform, pointing out defects in the systems of engineering that then prevailed in the city, the want of proper drainage, sewerage and a garb- age service. The articles he wrote led to a meeting of the citizens, in which the first steps were taken out of which grew the Sanitary Association, which inaug- urated the reforms which have since taken place. He took a special leadership in promoting and accomplish- ing the fine system of sewerage which the city of Memphis now possesses, Through his activity and his intelligent advocacy of it, the system was per- fected. He does not mix much with people, being a student and an editor, but socially he is a charming man, and has a charming family."

In the Appeal of November 27, 1878, we find this tes- timonial to his deservings and high estimate of his abil- ities : " Now that Mr. J. M. Keating is absent for reere- ation and to recuperate the w'de produced upon his

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system, his partner and editorial associate takes the lib- erty of stating that it was through his extraordinary ex- ertions that the Appeal was . published during the epi- demic. He was a pillar of strength to the paper. He was never bewildered in the mazes of difficulties that surrounded him; but was always equal to the emer- geney. When the number of compositors was reduced to only two, he was enveloped in the midnight gloom of hopeless despair. But he fell back upon himself, marched into the composing room, put in type his own editorials and prepared the forms of the paper for the press. But for his unconquerable will and energy the Appeal would have been suspended. The prudence and ability with which Mr. Keating conducted the paper, under such appalling circumstances, has received the universal commendation of the public. Ile added much to his reputation as an enterprising newspaper man,

which was already extended; for it is now generally con- ceded that Mr. Keating has no superior in the South. Hle has been trained to journalism from earliest boy- hood, and is familiar with every department of a news- paper. His natural powers, great industry and patience " would have made him successful in any career he might have chosen. But it was fortunate that he so early. com- prehended, as it seems he did, his own aptitudes and tastes ; that he found scope for his talents, or rather con- quered a place for their exercise, in a profession for which he is pre-eminently fitted, and in which he has won a name and achieved a success with which the most ambitious might be justly proud. He understands jour- nalism in its every part, from the tripod to the newsboy. He can serve as leading, financial, local or river editor. There is no department in journalism he can not fill, and 'make noble and dignified by his way of filling it.'"

BRYCE STEWART, ESQ.

CLARKSVILLE.

T THIS gentleman, one of the pioneer citizens, and for many years a leader in the leading industry of his town-the tobacco trade -- appears in this volume as one of the substantial business men of Clarksville, and as a man who has made his way to the top of the ladder by his integrity, enterprise, energy, assiduity and faith- ful attention to business. He was born in the town of Rothesay, Isle of Bute, Scotland, and was sent to school there, becoming, at the age of fifteen, a fair English scholar, and having a good knowledge of Greek and Latin. At the age of fifteen, he emigrated to America to join his brother, John Stewart, who had preceded him several years, and was then a tobacco merchant in Richmond, Virginia. Here he remained with his brother about two years, during which time he received good training and had become well acquainted with the tobacco business.

About the year 1833, he went to New Orleans, and together with his brother, erected a tobacco factory, of which he became manager, but during the year he was stricken down with the yellow fever, and on recovering left the city for a more healthy locality.

Coming to Clarksville, he found it a good point for the tobacco trade, and during the latter part of 1831, located there, and though then not more than eighteen or nineteen years of age, he at once took charge of a tobacco factory which his brother assisted him in start- ing. Clarksville was then a very small town, and had only three tobacco houses. Here he has remained, wit- nessing its growth and development during fifty years of progress and pause, building himself up in the to- bacco trade and amassing a handsome property. A few

years previous to the war, he severed his active connec- tion with the business, and after the war began, closed out entirely. In the meantime he had been operating establishments in Glasgow and Brunswick, Missouri, and Mayfield, Kentucky, and was doing business in Nashville, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri, and also dealing in cotton in Memphis. Financially considered, his history was one of steady progress up to the time he retired from business.

Mr. Stewart was in early life a Whig, of the Henry Clay school, in favor of peace and the preservation of the Union, if possible. Since the war he has voted with the Democrats. He took the degree of Master Mason at Clarksville many years ago. He became a member of the Presbyterian church at Clarksville, in early life, and helped to build the first Presbyterian church ever erected in the town, where there were on his arrival only five or six persons of that faith.

Mr. Stewart's father, Bryce Stewart, was a merchant and ship-owner in Scotland, and the descendant of an old Presbyterian family. He was a man of success in his business, a prominent member and an elder in the Established church. His father was a Scotch farmer. Mr. Stewart's mother was a Miss Kerr. Two of his brothers, John and Daniel Stewart, now retired mer- chants of Richmond, Virginia, were for many years leading tobacco men in that city.

Mr. Stewart was first married, at Clarksville, Tennes- see, in 1839, to Miss Eliza J. MeClure, daughter of Alexander McClure, a merebant, and the descendant of a family who were among the earliest settlers of Clarks- ville. The family was of Scotch-Irish descent. By this

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marriage he had three sons and one daughter, all of whom are now dead except the youngest, Bryce Stew- art, jr., who is now a lieutenant in the British army, and stationed in India. The daughter, Marion, married Mr. Hume, a banker of Louisville, Kentucky, and left one son, Bryce Stewart Hume. Mrs. Stewart died in 1866.

Mr. Stewart was married a second time, in 1873, at Clarksville, to Miss Sallie West Cobb, daughter of Dr. Joshua Cobb, a prominent citizen of Clarksville. By this second marriage he has one son, Norman Stewart, born in 1874, now living with his father. Mrs. Stewart is a member of the Presbyterian church.

Mr. Stewart revisited Europe in 1866; again in 1873,

and a third time in 1881, spending on each occa- sion nearly two years traveling over the continent, en- riching his already well-stored mind with practical knowledge of interesting historie places. This knowl- edge he has a most pleasant manner of imparting, and therefore, is a most companionable gentleman, a man of culture and refined education. It is not difficult to account for Mr. Stewart's success in life, for he has been a hard worker, a punctual, attentive, industrious, ener- getic business man, and good fortune has followed his footsteps and crowned his efforts with plenty. He is a man of kindly nature, charitable in disposition, gentle- natured and firm in his friendships. In short, he is a model citizen and a good man.

HON. E. L. GARDENHIRE.

CARTHAGE.

TUDGE E. L. GARDENHIRE, of Carthage, one of Tennessee's ablest lawyers and most distinguished judges, was born in Overton county, Tennessee, Novem- ber 12, 1815, and there grew to manhood, assisting his father in farm work, who, although a man of considera- ble property, thought it his duty to train the son to work. In the winter months he attended the neighbor- hood schools until just turned into his nineteenth year, when his father sent him to Clinton. College, in Smith county, where he studied two years-1834-5-6 -- Latin, Greek, mathematics, and the natural sciences. After leaving college, he continued his studies privately at home one year, when he took charge of the Livingston Academy and taught school one year. In 1838-9, he studied law under Judge Cullom, and obtained license to practice, in August, 1839, before Judges Caruthers and Andrew J. Marchbanks. From this time, he read diligently until ISH, in the early part of which he be- gan practice at Livingston, and did an exceptionally large and remunerative practice, making six thousand dollars a year. From the very beginning, he refused bad debts. If a man would not pay him, unless it was a charity case, he refused his services. November 27, 1851, he moved to Sparta, Tennessee, where he resided until 1876, when he settled permanently at Carthage. At the breaking out of the war he was worth in negroes, lands, good debts and money in bank, some forty thou- sand dollars. By the war he lost not less than thirty thousand dollars. Since that time, however, he has recovered his fortune, by diut, of hard work and close application to his business, and is now in very inde- pendent and comfortable circumstances.

In August, 1919, Judge Gardenhire was elected State senator from the counties of Fentress, Overton, Jack son, White and Van Buren, and served in the Tenues see Legislature of 1819 50, and was chairman of the committee on public grounds and public buildin ..

In May, 1858, he was elected judge of the Fifth judi- cial circuit, comprising the counties of Scott, Morgan, Fentress, Overton, White, Bledsoe, Sequatchie and Marion, and held that position until December 1, 1861, when he resigned on account of the impossibility of holding courts during the war.

In November, 1861, he was elected to the Confederate Congress, and served in the sessions of 1862 and 1863. In this Congress he urged and voted for every measure which he thought would promote the interests of the South, and was regarded as an able legislator ..

After the war, in 1875, he represented White and Putnam counties in the Tennessee Legislature, and in that body served as chairman of the committee on judi- ciary. In the spring of 1877, Gov. James D. Porter appointed him one of the Supreme court of arbitration, which position he filled one year. October 11, 1883, he was appointed by the unanimous vote of the Supreme court one of the judges of the court of referees for West Tennessee, the position in which the editor hereof found him.

In politics, Judge Gardenhire has always been a Democrat, of the strictest and straighest sect, being very decided in his political views but always respect- ing the views and feelings of gentlemen differing with him on party issues. In 1856, he was a delegate from the State at large to the Cincinnati convention that nominated Buchanan for president, and on his return home was nominated presidential elector for the Fourth congressional district, canvassed the district, and was elected over his Whig competitor, Judge William Hickerson.

Judge Gardenhire was made a Master Mason in Sparta Lodge, No. 99, in 1866. In religion, he is a believer in the doctrines of the Christian or Camp- bellite church, of which his wife and children are members. He has had some editorial experience, hav-

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ing edited the Mountain Democrat, at Sparta, in 1856-7, for the benefit of his friend, William Holton, owner of the paper.

Judge Gardenhire married, in Overton county, Ten- nessee, December 5, 1839, Miss Mary MeMillin, a native of Kentucky, daughter of James MeMillin, esq., a gentleman of Scotch blood, and for several terms a member of the Kentucky Legislature, noted for his good humor, anecdote and hospitality. His father, a Presbyterian preacher, left Scotland and went first to France, thence to Kentucky, with his father, in 1805, where he married and afterward settled in Overton county, Tennessee. He died in 1876, at the age of ninety years.

Mrs. Gardenhire's mother, nee Miss Katharine Hal- sell, was of Irish descent. Mrs. Gardenhire's nephew, Ilon. Benton MeMillin, of Carthage, son of her oldest. brother, John H. MeMillin, is now a member of Con- gress, from Tennessee, from the Fourth congressional district, this being his third term, to which he was elected without opposition: ITe is chairman of the committee on claims, and stands very high in Congress. Ile married, in 1886, Miss Marie Brown, of Pulaski, Tennessee, daughter of Hon. John C. Brown, ex-gov- ernor of Tennessee. John II. MeMillin represented Monroe county, Kentucky, in the Legislature of that State, and died in 1883. Mrs. Gardenhire was educated at Centre Point, Kentucky, and, like her family gener- ally, is very popular; an intellectual woman, with a fine sense of the ludicrous, and possessed of that agrecable vivacity and witty turn that intelligent Irish people generally have.

To this marriage were born eight children, one of whom died in infancy. The living are: (1). James Alexis Gardenhire, born December 23, 1810; educated at Lebanon University ; was licensed to practice law, but is a farmer in Smith county. He served in the Confederate army as captain of a company in the Twenty-eighth Tennessee, and as aid to Gon. Marcus J. Wright. He married Miss Florence Carrick, of Sparta, daughter of II. L. Carrick, a merchant. (2). Alice Catharine Gardenhire is now wife of J. F. Good- bar, a merchant at Lonoke, Arkansas, and has five children : Joseph L., Frank, Leslie, Lafayette and Alice. (3). John Halsell Gardenhire, born in Overton county, December 21, 1815; married Miss Elizabeth Snodgrass, daughter of Joseph Snodgrass, a merchant of Sparta, and has six children: Erasmus Lee, Joseph, Mamie, Fannie, Alice and -. (1). Mary Garden- hire, married Mark L. Clark, a farmer and mill owner in White county, and has five children : Erasmus, Lee, Elizabeth, Annie, Ella and Rosalee. (5). Ellen Garden- hire, married James T. Quarles, a prominent merchant at. Sparta, and has two children, Joseph and Freddy. (6). Ada Gardenhire, married John HI. MeMillin, a lawyer at Celina, Tennessee, brother of Congressman

Benton MeMillin. She has three children : Ella, Elizabeth and John II. (7). Rosalee Gardenhire, mar- ried Cornelius Cullom, a farmer near Carthage, and has one child, Mary.

Judge Gardenhire's great-grandfather, Jacob Garden- hire, emigrated from Germany to Pennsylvania. His grandfather, also named Jacob Gardenhire, setted in .: Virginia ; was a soldier seven years in Washington's army ; wasa regular old Virginia gentleman, fond of his horse, his hounds and his children. He moved to Ton- nessee in 1790, and settled at Campbell's Station, Knox county, fought the Indians there, and d'ed in Septem- ber, 1824, in Overton county, where he had moved in 1811. Rev. James Godwin, the celebrated soldier in Marion's army, was a personal friend of this old gentle- man, and preached his funeral. (See Weems' Life of Gen. Marion).

Judge Gardenhire's father; Adam Gardenhire, born August, 1792, in Knox county, was a successful farmer, a man of strong good sense and business judgment, amassed an estate of seventy-five thousand dollars, and was a careful. vigilant, economical, money-making man, leaving nothing undone, who never had a lawsuit on his own account, was liberal and hospitable, and a Meth- odist for forty years before he died, August 4, 1851.

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 85

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