Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 94

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 94

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Judge Jackson has been twice married ; first, in 1859, to Miss Sophia Malloy, daughter of David B. Malloy, a banker of Memphis. Her mother was a Miss Shapard. To this marriage were born four children, Henry, Mary, William II. and Howell. The first Mrs. Jackson died in April, 1873.

In April, 1874; Judge Jackson married Miss Mary E Harding, daughter of Gen. W. G. Harding, of Nashville, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. Like many other men in publie life who have been extraor- dinarily successful, he has had the assistance of a faithful and sympathetic wife. Mrs. Jackson possesses, as her more prominent characteristics, energy and in- dustry. She is domestic in her tastes, loving home and home life better than society, fashion and gayety. She is economical in general matters, but very liberal in her gifts to the church and all religious objects. She is cheerful and even-tempered, not subject to extreme fluctuations of spirits, is cordial and pleasant in mau- ner; is a devoted mother, a genuine help-meet to her husband, and in short, is all that the mistress of a Christian household should be. By this marriage, Judge Jackson has three children, Bessie, Louise and Harding Alexander.

Shortly after his second marriage, Judge Jackson re- moved to his old home at Jackson, Tennessee, and there formed a partnership in law with Gen. Alexander W. Campbell, under the firm name of Campbell & Jackson. Ile continued the practice of -law there successfully until the fall of ISSO, when he was elected to the Tennes- see Legislature, upon what is known as the State credit platform, this being his first experience in politics, never having been a member of any political conven- tion. However, he at once became the, leading mem- ber of that Legislature, and was elected to the United States senate by that body in 1881, his term expiring in 1887.

Upon his entrance to the United States senate, Judge Jackson began at once making his mark in committee work-especially as a member of the committees on claims, pensions and agriculture. In the second session the senate and the country discovered that they had in the quiet and modest senator from Tennessee, one of the profoundest legal minds in the Union. His opinions on constitutional law are regarded as ex cathedra. A re-

425

PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

cent Washington correspondent of the Nashville Union says of him: " A good deal of interest is felt in the senate in Senator Jackson's speech on the pending question regarding presidential suspensions and appoint- ments, and the right of the senate to demand papers touching the suspension. Senator Jackson has attained a high rank in the senate in regard to his views on legal and constitutional questions such as these. This is especially shown by the fact that a very large proportion of the bills pertaining to judicial questions and those looking to the reform of the judicial system are re- ferred in the judiciary committee to the sub-committee of which he is a member. Some of the most important judicial questions that have been before the senate this session have been intrusted to this sub-committee."

Cool, direct, and patient, he is a man of deliberation and weight, given to profound thought, but with cour- age and candor to speak his views when the occasion demands. Judge Jackson's salient characteristics may be summed up as follows: From early boyhood he has been a remarkably close student ; of the most exem- plary habits ; a constant reader, especially of history ; a man of scholarly attainments ; possessed of an analytical mind; a clear, forcible speaker and writer; of fine con- stitution ; a laborious worker; a most highly successful lawyer; a prudent, sagacious, economical business man, constantly accumulating. He has filled all positions on the bench ; has been the attorney of several leading lines of railroad in the State; in politics is a State credit Democrat, and as a politician is conservative, be- lieving in an economical administration of the govern- ment. Upon the subject of the tariff he holds that, while revenue should be the primary object in laying duties upon imports, these duties should be laid or ad- justed with discrimination, so as, incidentally, to afford that much protection to home labor and capital against. foreign competition ; and that these duties should be heaviest on luxuries and lightest on the necessaries of life, and that the protection aimed at should, as far as possible, be made to apply to the three great interests of agriculture, manufactures and commerce, so as to give harmonious development to the country.

He has a strongly marked lace, a compact, well kuit. frame, and a stout, if not robust, constitution. He is

an earnest man. Constitutional law is his strong point ; difficult legal problems his forte. His tastes have al- ways led him to the vocation of farming, and it was with difficulty that his father could turn him to the law after his graduation at Lebanon. He loves rural life. He is no fancy farmer. but finds a natural, inborn de- light in agricultural pursuits, and believes the farmer's life the true source of peace and contentment.

On the 12th of April, 1886-since the opposite page of this sketch was printed-Judge Jackson was nomi- nated by President Cleveland, and unanimously con- firmed by the Senate, as circuit judge of the United States for the Sixth judicial circuit, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of the Hon. John Baxter. This appointment reflects the more credit upon the gentleman from the fact that he was not an applicant for the position, but was earnestly pressing the name of another Tennessean for the place. The following letter from the president to Judge Jackson shows the ground of his action : " My Dear Senator-The applications on behalf of all classes to fill the place made vacant by Judge Baxter's death are so numerous that the matter promises to degenerate into an unseemly scramble. To avoid this I have determined to send the name of Judge Baxter' successor to the Senate at once. In the inter- est of this important branch of public service, and very clear conception of my duty in the matter, I have de- termined to say to you, you must abandon all scruples you have entertained and permit me to nominate you to the vacancy. Your reluctance to consent to this action, growing out of the consideration for constituents in your State desiring the place, does you great eredit, and increases my estimate of your value. You have no right to attempt to control my action or limit my selec- tion in this way. I am quite willing that all other aspi- rants and their friends should know that your nomina- tion is my own act and result of conviction of what ought to be done; from which I cannot be moved by your arguments, or by presenting the claims of other aspirants. Fully expecting you will not be insubordi- nate in the face of plain duty,

" Yours sincerely, "GROVER CLEVELAND."

HON. WILLIAM HENRY WILLIAMSON.

LEBANON.

TUDGE WILLIAMSON was born in Wilson county, Tennessee, October 28, 1828, and for a man of his age, looks remarkably robust and well preserved, his hair being only slightly tinged with gray. He grew up in that county, on his father's farm, leading the life of 51

a farmer's boy, until twenty years old, when he entered Cumberland University, in October, 1818, from which he graduated in 1852, in a class of six, among whom were Rev. D. C. Kelly, for four years pastor of MeKendree church, Rev. E. D. Pearson, D. D., of Missouri, and

426

PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

Rev. E. B. Chrisman, of Tennessee, now of Trinity University, Texas.

In early life, Judge Williamson had an inclination toward the medical profession, and read some in that direction, but abandoned the idea on account of his delicate health. He took to the law, under the advice of Hon. Abram Caruthers, and gave up his earlier taste for farming and medicine. He graduated in law in 1854, under Judge Caruthers and Judge Nathan Green, sr., was admitted to the bar the same year, at Lebanon, where he has resided ever since, commanding a good practice ever since the war. Previous to the war, his health was very feeble, but since the war he has grown strong and robust .. In this respect, the war was the making of him, in a degree compensating him for the loss of his right arm.

On the 20th of May, 1861, he went into the Confed- erate service as orderly sergeant of Company II, com- manded by Capt. John K. Howard, of the Seventh Tennessee infantry regiment, under Col. Robert Hat- ton, and followed the fortunes of that noble command to the close of the war. He was made captain, at the organization of the regiment, May 25, 1861, and was promoted to major of the regiment in March, 1863, at Fredricksburg, Virginia. He served in Virginia, Mary- land and Pennsylvania, all the time in Lee's army, un- der Stonewall Jackson and A. P. Hill. He took part in the battles in western Virginia; in the battle of Seven Pines, where Gen. Hatton fell, May 7, 1862; in the seven days' fight around Richmond; at Fredricks- burg, December 13, 1862; at Chancellorsville, May 2, 1863; at Gettysburg, July 3, 4 and 5, 1863, at which bat- de his brigade (Gen. Archer's Tennesseans), was in the advance of the army and fired the first guns in the battle, and on the last day of that famous engage- ment, Archer's Tennesseans and the Thirteenth Ala- bama, with Pettigrew's South Carolinians, were at- tached to Pickett's division, and these two brigades participated in Pickett's celebrated charge at Ceme- tery Heights. The map of that battle-field, published by order of the United States Congress, will show that these two brigades, represented by a red line, inter- mingled with the blue. The men mixed and fought across the breastworks, clubbing their guns. Major Williamson next participated in the opening combats between Grant's and Lee's armies, at Petersburg, March 28, 1865, after which he was furloughed, about fifteen days before Lee's surrender, and the Petersburg light was his last active military engagement.

Maj. Williamson was three times wounded during the war, and bears upon his body the honorable sears of a brave and gallant soldier. His first wound was received at the battle of Gaines' Mill, while fighting under Gen. A. P. Hill, an inch ball, from a piece of ordnance, go- ing through his right thigh, cutting the leaders, slightly shattering the bone, and from which he at times still suffers pain and from weakness in the limb. He was

next wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville, being knocked senseless while standing on the enemy's works, taking observations, just after they had been driven out, but the bullet glanced and killed another man who was standing by his side. He was next wounded at Gettys- burg, in the charge on Cemetery Heights, by a minnie ball striking him just below the right shoulder, shatter- ing the arm so that amputation was necessary. His armless sleeve silently proclaims to all who see him that he has been through the fiery furnace of war, and it is an eloquent reminder, too, that he never shrank from his duty, and deserves well of his country.

After the war, he resumed the practice of law, at Lebanon, in July, 1865, in partnership with Hon. An- drew B. Martin, now professor of law in Cumberland University, Lebanon, which partnership lasted until he went on the bench, in 1870. In that year he was elected judge of the Seventh judicial circuit, com- prising the counties of Cannon, Rutherford, Bedford and Wilson, a position which he filled for the term, eight years, distinguishing himself, specially as a mer- ciful judge in the administration of criminal law. Like Samuel, the prophet, Judge Williamson can lift his hand and ask, " Whom have I oppressed ?" Moreover, it may be said that nothing excites Judge Williamson so quickly and so much as the infliction, too common of late, of unreasonable fines and punishments, worthy only the times of Draco or the Middle Ages. At the expiration of his judicial terin, in 1878, Judge William- son returned to the practice of law in partnership with Andrew B. Martin and E. E. Beard, under the firm style of Williamson, Martin & Beard.

A Democrat, born and bred, Judge Williamson is firm and unflinching in advocating that loftiest of Democratic principles-the greatest liberty to each, consistent with the greatest liberty to all. He has at- tended political conventions, but has not been active in politics, except in trying to shape a correct political policy for his State. On that great politico-economical question, the tariff, he is for a tariff for revenue only. In December, 1869, he was elected a delegate, from Wil- son county, to the State constitutional convention, in which distinguished body, though a young man, he took an active part.

When asked if he was a Mason, he replied, "No; I never joined but two societies, one, the Democratic party, and the other, the Cumberland Presbyterian church, and,". he added, jocularly, " I have had hard work to maintain my position in them." He has, for twenty five years, been a member of the board of trus- tees of Cumberland University.

Judge Williamson married at Murfreesborough, Ten- nessee, January 31, 1873, Mrs. Mattie Ready Morgan, widow of Gen. John H. Morgan, the celebrated cavalry chieftain of the Confederate army, and daughter of Hon. Charles Ready, the distinguished lawyer and con- gressman, of that city. Her mother, nee Miss Martha

427

PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

Strong, was the daughter of Dr. Strong, of East Ten- nessee. Mrs. Williamson's sister, ure Miss Alice Ready, is now the wife of Hon. Andrew B. Martin; at one time a member of the Tennessee Legislature, presidential elector for the State at large, on the Hancock ticket, in 1880, and now professor of law in Cumberland Uni- versity. His biography appears elsewhere in this vol- ume. By her former husband, Gen, Morgan, Mrs. Williamson has one child, Miss Johnnie HI. Morgan, who recently graduated with distinction at Patapsco, Maryland. In appearance, she is very much like her father, has a gifted mind, particularly in elocution, and in her manner has that peculiar magnetism that so characterized her father and gave him influence over men.

Mrs. Williamson was educated by Dr. C. D. Elliott, at the old Nashville Female Academy, and is noted for her fine address, intellectual vigor and cultivation, her strength of character and devotion to her children. Handsome in person, and clothed with the graces of the highest order of womanhood, she is naturally of great influence in the community in which she lives. By her marriage with Judge Williamson, she has had five children: Henry, born November 8, 1873; Martha; Charles; Alice ; Nannie, died, May, 1883, aged two years.

The Williamson family originally came from North- umberland, England, and settled in North Carolina. Judge Williamson's grandfather, John Williamson, en- tered the Revolutionary army when he was fifteen years old, and had served one year or more when the war closed. He was married on his way home, on New river, Virginia, to Miss Margaret Cloyd, she being only fifteen years old and he seventeen. They emigrated to Tennessee in 1785, with Gen. James Robertson, the celebrated pioneer soldier and founder of Nashville, and under Gen. Robertson he served as a captain in all his combats with the Indians along the Cumberland river. They first settled in Summer county, but after the Indians were driven from the country, he settled at the place, now in Wilson county, and built the house where Judge Williamson was born, the original house being built with port-holes in it. He died about 1829, his widow dying in 1812. His brother, Thomas Wil. liaison, was one of tien. Jackson's officers in all his wars, Indian and British, and all of his sons were in the army in the Indian wars, except William (Judge Wil- liamson's father), who was then only eleven years old. Judge Williamson's unele, Col. George Williamson, and Gen. Zachariah Taylor, were appointed lieutenants

at the same time and in the same regiment, in the United States regular army.

Judge Williamson's father, William Williamson, was born September 11, 1806, in the same house in which his son was born, twenty-two years later. He was a farmer, a Cumberland Presbyterian, a Democrat, and a justice of the peace. He was a man of fine education, a good classical scholar, and, for a time, was a teacher. In early life, he was a dashing man, later, more quiet ; remarkable for never speaking evil of any one, man or woman. He died August 22, 1883.

Judge Williamson's mother was formerly Miss Nancy Crutchfield, daughter of Rev. William Henry Crutch- field, of the Methodist church. Her mother was Hannah Mayberry, daughter of William Mayberry, an old pioneer family from North Carolina. Mrs. Williamson died, July 27, 1852, at the age of forty- one, leaving nine children, eight of whom survive, seven of them now living in Wilson county, and one, Elizabeth II., wife of Dr. John B. Talbot, now living in East Nashville, Tennessee. Judge William- son's maternal unele, Dr. Oran Crutchfield, was a promi- nent physician, in Wilson county, but died young.

Judge Williamson has paid little attention to making money, except by his profession. He has been a stu- dent all his life from a boy, He was well taught by his scholarly father, and has indulged in a wide range of reading. He was well educated as a lawyer, not only in the curriculum, but outside of that. After he com- menced the law, he devoted himself to that science as- siduously, and to tracing it to its original sources, Jew- ish, Roman and English. Young men, aspiring to be lawyers, and to obtain the honors of that profession, will not be throwing away their time if they study care- fully the history of this man and his methods. He studied the Pentateuch as diligently as he studied Blackstone, as a preparation for the law.

Of Judge Williamson, his friend, Gen. J. B. Palmer, who has known him long and well, says: " As a judge, he ranks high with the profession as a jurist of ability, impartiality and independence. His administration was distinguished by firmness and fairness and the utmost courtesy, his endeavor being to administer the law on the basis of justice to litigants, and he always extended to all parties every opportunity to present all the merits of their case. Both the bar and the people entertain for him the highest respect. The bar were more than ordinarily attached to him. The whole being said, he was a most excellent circuit judge."

428

PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

HON. DAVID P. HADDEN.

MEMPHIS.

A ITHOUGH justly entitled to rank among " Promi- nent Tennesseans," the Hon. David P. Hadden, of Memphis, is by birth a Kentuckian, having been born in Elkton, Todd county, of that State, March 27, 1835. Up to his twentieth year, he followed agricul. tural pursuits, worked on a farm and tended stock in summer and went to school in winter. To finish his education he, himself, taught school one year and made enough money to complete his studies, which included mathematics, Latin and Greek. In 1857, he graduated from the JJefferson Male Academy, at Elkton, where he had been the classmate of Hon. B. II. Bristow, late secretary of the United States treasury, Hon. Roger Q. Mills, the able and eloquent member of Congress from Texas, and of Frank Jay McClean, of Ken- tucky. Very many of the students of this academy have turned out to be men of prominence in the various pro- fessions and avocations they have chosen subsequently.

After graduation, Mr. Hadden went to Memphis, and was engaged there one year in the cotton business, with his uncle, David Park, after which he returned to Ken- tucky and began the study of law. Meanwhile, he was employed at writing in the offices of the circuit and county court clerks of his native county. He was ad- mitted to the bar, but never practiced. Subsequently, he moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, where he was em- ployed several years as a book-keeper and notary pub- lie to the various banks. When the war broke out, although he was southern in all his prejudices and associations, he did not go into the army, but remained at Clarksville, in business, until the town was occupied by the Federals, when he went to New York and en- gaged in the cotton business with Watts, Crane & Co., one of the largest firms that ever went from the western country to the metropolis, After remaining in that city about two years, he came back to Tennessee, and to Memphis, which he had in his " mind's eye " as a most excellent place in which to locate permanently. Ile embarked in the grocery and cotton business, in the firm of Simpson, Hadden & Co., of which firm his cousin, William Park, was also a member. That firm was afterward dissolved and succeeded by David P. Hadden & Co., afterwards Hadden & Avery, and then Hadden & Farrington, which has continued to the present time.

Mr. Hadden was brought up a Whig, yet, since the war, he has been a Democrat, and, though classed with that party, has never been a partisan, but has always supported the men he considered safest and best. The business men of Memphis have always shown confidence in him, and have placed him forward in various enter prises of the city. He has been president of the col

ton exchange for two terms, and has been sent to va- rious commercial bodies to represent his city and his friends. In 1882, he was taken up by the business men of Memphis, regardless of party, as a candidate for president of the taxing district of Shelby county, and though there were two tickets in the field, his name was upon both, and he received nearly all the votes cast, being elected for a term of four years.

Since the day of his election, he has given up his pri- vate business and devoted his time, attention and en- ergy exclusively to the interests of the taxing district, which engages his attention from 7 A. M. to 5 P. M., daily. During his administration, by the aid and counsel of the able men associated with him, the taxing district has seemed to improve and go forward more than at any other time, and it has been his pride to see a debt of more than six millions of dollars nearly all settled, on terms satisfactory alike to the bondholders and the citizens. The system of improvements inaugurated by his predecessors has been carried vigorously forward until the city is now in the healthiest condition since its foundation. Miles upon miles of solid pavements have been laid, as well as a still more extensive sewer system. The government of the city of Memphis, which is looked upon as a model of municipal government, is conducted by a board of three commissioners, of which he is president, and is run upon strictly business prin- ciples. The office came to him unsought, and was ac- cepted, not as a political, but as a business position, and has been conducted by him upon that principle. He has no further political aspirations in connection with that or any other office, his sole desire being to see the city prosper under his administration, at the end of which he is ready to turn it over to the people. The vast sanitary improvements which have rendered Mem- phis one of the healthiest cities in the West, have been carried out mainly under his direction, and that of Dr. G. B. Thornton, the president of the Memphis board of health. Both gentlemen are now valuable members of the Tennessee State Board of Health, having been placed there in consideration of their capacity in sani- tary matters manifested in their own city.

Mr. Hadden was made a Master Mason at Clarks- ville, Tennessee, took all the Council and Chapter de- grees there, and was made a Knight Templar at. Nash- ville, in 1860. In 1877, he was elected president of the Masonic Temple Association at Memphis, by the stock - holders of that institution. The building had been com- moneed, but the association was so involved in debt, and the members of the fraternity so much disheartened, that no one seemed willing to take hold of it, but hav- ing been elected, he put his wits to work, and, with the

429

PROMINENT TENNESSEANS.

aid of an able directory, the temple was completed and is now one of the most ornamental buildings in the city, and is occupied by the postoffice and the various Masonic bodies. He looks upon his connection with the temple with more pride than anything he has ever un- dertaken. He has been a director in the German Na- tional Bank, since 1875, and vice-president of the Bluff City Insurance company for the past eighteen years.

He started in life without a dollar, and has always been reasonably successful, but has never had a desire to amass a large fortune, preferring to enjoy what he makes .. His life has been a happy one, and the world has dealt gently with him from infancy up, for he has always numbered his friends by legions.

Mr. Hadden's father, Thomas N. Hadden, a native of Spartanburg district, South Carolina, went to Kentucky when a boy, and died there at the age of seventy- four, at the family residence, which has been in the family since 1790. The family is of old Presbyterian stock, zealously devoted to their church, and none of

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 94

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