Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 97

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

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MAJ. JOHN T. WILLIAMSON.

COLUMBIA.

M AJ. JOHN T. WILLIAMSON, lawyer, editor and State senator, was born the second of three children, all sons, in Maury county, Tennessee, August 11, 1839, and, with the exception of two years of his early boyhood, that county has been his life-long home. He received his education at Pleasant Grove Academy, in Maury county, and at Lebanon, Tennessee, closing in the sophomore class in 1860.

In May, 1861, he enlisted in Capt. George W. Jones' company, raised in Maury county, for the Confederate service, and was made brevet second lieutenant in that company, when it was organized as a part of Col. John (. Brown's Third Tennessee infantry regiment. He saw the war to its close, surrendering at Greensborough, North Carolina, in April, 1865, having served in Ten- nessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and North Carolina, under Gens, Albert Sidney Johnston, Bragg, Joseph E. Johnston and Hood. He took part in the battles of Fort Donelson, Perryville, Murfrees- borough ; in Hardee's fight in Georgia, JJuly 22, 1864, and in the numerous and continued battles of the Geor- gia campaign of 1864. At Fort Donelson he was wounded by a minnie ball through his left arm, and disabled for a month. The same ball after passing through his arm mashed flat around the barrel of his pi of in his side pocket as if it had been hammered there of purpose.

On the reorganization of the Fifty-first Tennessee regi- ment, at Shelbyville, Tennessee, he was elected major of the regiment, and served in that capacity the balance of the war.

After the great civil struggle had closed, finding himself without property, and without trade or profes- sion, he first taught school five months, in 1865, at Brick Church, in Giles county, Tennessee, after which he clerked twelve months at the same place. In 1867, he commenced studying law with Frierson & Fleming at Columbia ; was licensed to practice in March, 1868, by Judges H. Il. Harrison and A. M. Hughes; began practice at Columbia, where he has since continued with fair financial success.

In politics, Maj. Williamson is a Democrat, and has taken an active part in the political contests-national, State and county-that have come before the public in his time. The first civil office he held was that of al- derman of his town, of which, in 1877-8, he was also mayor. In November, 1852, he was elected State sena- tor, as a " Bate Democrat," from Maury and Lewis counties, and during the session of the senate of 1883, was chairman of the committee on new issue Tennessee money. He has been frequently sent as a delegate to the congressional and State conventions of his party, and was chairman of his county executive committee.

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Hle was president of the Tilden and Hendricks club of Columbia, in 1876. While always a warm friend of the Democratic party, and active in it, he has worked in a quiet way rather than as seeking its honors. He took the position of State senator somewhat against his wishes, and only made the canvass, upon the represen- tation of his party friends that the success of the con- test depended upon his making the fight.

He became a Mason, in 1867, in Pleasant Grove Lodge, No. 138, and has taken all the degrees up to and including Knight Templar, and has served as Master, High Priest and Eminent Commander. fle is also a member of the Royal Arcanum.

He married, in Charlotte county, Virginia, June 22, 1869, Miss Albina Goode Bugg, a native of that county, born the daughter of Zachariah Bugg, a tobacco planter and trader, also a native of Virginia. Her mother was Mary J. Goode, daughter of a Mr. Goode, of the family of Goodes who for many years have furnished members of Congress from that State. Mrs. Williamson was edu- cated at Danville, Virginia. By this marriage, Maj. Williamson has five children : Mary G. Williamson, born August 12, 1870; Ella Vernor Williamson, born in April, 1873, and died in August of the same year ; George Bugg Williamson, born September 6, 1874; Lucy Mildred Williamson, born October 8, 1877 ; Lotta Gray Williamson, born August 21, 1880.

Maj. Williamson and lady and their daughter, Mary, are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, of which he is a deacon.

His parents having started in life poor, their children were brought up to work and labor on the farm ; some were sent to school, while the others were kept at home to " keep the plows a-going," yet, by alternating work and schooling, the boys managed to get as good an edu- cation as any of the boys in the neighborhood. From an early age, our subject had an inclination to the law, was a studious boy and raised under strict moral train- ing of Presbyterian parents. His father, G. C. William- son, now living on his farm in Maury county, is in his seventieth year, but quite stout and active, and in com- fortable circumstances. He was raised in Giles county. He is a fine specimen of the Tennessee farmer, and throughout life has maintained a reputation for honor, integrity and industry, and for devoted attachment to his family-watching and following even his grown chil- dren with paternal help, assistance and counsel. Maj. Williamson's grandfather, Samuel Williamson, was a Virginia farmer; married, in that State, Miss Judith Woodfin, and settled in Giles county at an early date.

Maj. Williamson's mother, formerly Mildred Angeline Brown, now living at the age of sixty-six years, was born in Maury county, the daughter of Charles Brown, a farmer, and a native of Virginia. Her mother, Eliza- beth Akers, a native Virginian, was the daughter of Peter Akers, who settled twelve miles south of Colum- bia, where he lived and died a farmer. The whole family, after settling in Tennessee, seem possessed of ex- ceptional staying power. Maj. Williamson's father isnow living on the place settled by his great-grandfather, Peter Akers, and many of the old generation now lie buried in the same graveyard. Maj. Williamson's brother, Charles S. Williamson, is a farmer in Maury county, and his brother, Dr. James G. Williamson, is a practicing physician near Culleoka. Both these broth- ers were in the Confederate service, Charles S. in the cavalry, and Dr. James G. in the same regiment with our subject.

In 1882, Maj. Williamson, immediately after the nomination of Gen. Bate for governor, in connection with others, purchased the Columbia Independent and changed its name to the Maury Democrat, of which he and Col. J. L. Bullock were the editors, Maj. William- son being also the business manager. Subsequently they sold the paper and both resumed their law practice.

In personal appearance, Maj. Williamson is a very attractive man. He stands five feet nine inches high, has a Grecian east of face, with large perceptive and concentrative power, and makes the impression of a kindly-natured man, making his way in the world in moderation, without the restlessness, worry and hurry that characterize too many of our business men, and which shorten the lives of hall' that die.

The purposes of his life, he said to the editor, have been " to put myself' and family in comfortable circum- stances, but I have never sought or craved riches; to be liberal and fair with everybody with whom I have dealings. I have never had but little security money to pay, and never had a note to go to protest. I have endeavored so to act as to merit and retain the confi- dence and esteem of my associates. The history of my family has been that of a fight to come up in the world. One of the ruling motives of my father's life has been that his children might not have to start where he did; one of his desires that they might have advantages he never had, and my feelings are the same toward my family." On such foundations noble families are built. " To found a noble family is a noble ambition-for great families make great States."

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DAVID A. NEILSON, M. D.

MORRISTOWN.

T HIS gentleman was born in Greene county, Ten- nessee, March 25, 1825, the son of Col. William D. Neilson, a soldier in the Indian wars, under Jack - son, a native of Virginia, who came with his father to Greene county when he was quite young. He married, in Claiborne county, Tennessee, lived a farmer, was a Whig in polities, a colonel of militia, and a man of great energy. He went into business, as a merchant, when very young, had a partner, broke for thirty-six thousand dollars, and, in seven years, paid up his in- debtedness, thus showing both energy and honesty. He lived to the good old age of eighty, and died, in 1864, respected and beloved by all who knew him. Dr. Neilson's grandfather was Hugh Douglas Neilson, a na- tive Scotchman, and a man of fine education. He mar- ried Miss Sarah Hale, of Virginia, came as a pioneer settler to Greene county, Tennessee, and died there a large farmer.

Dr. Neilson's mother, ace Miss Eliza Evans, was born in Claiborne county, Tennessee, daughter of George Evans, of Trish descent. She was a woman of sterling character, noted for her industry, economical habits, and model housekeeping. Neither she nor her husband were members of any church, nor is the son, though all are believers in the Christian religion. She died at the old homestead, in Greene county, in September, 1813, leaving five children: David Alexander Neilson, sub- ject of this sketch ; William D. Neilson, died, umnar- ried, while mining in California; Sarah Jane Neilson, married John D. McCurly, a merchant, at Greeneville, Tennessee, and has nine children; James S. Neilson, who married Miss Martha Baker, is now a very suc- cessful farmer, in Greene county, has two children, J. T. and Jesse Neilson, the former of whom is a phy- sician, practicing at Emory, Virginia ; Eliza Neilson, married James L. Cain, a farmer, in Greene county, now merchandising in Mississippi.

The Neilson family are a thrifty people, mostly farm- ers and merchants. Hugh D. Neilson, an unele of Dr. Neilson, was a well known and prominent merchant, at Somerville, Tennessee.

Dr. Neilson, from infancy till thirteen years old, be- ing afflicted with a skin disease (cezema), was confined to the house in winters, and only went to school in summer. From that time on, continuously, he went to school, attending Tusculum College four years, and two years at the college in Greenville. He began reading medicine when twenty years old, under Dr. F. M. Compton. In 1816, he entered the University of the City of New York, took his medical degree in 1848, under Professors Valentine Mott, Samuel Henry Dickson, Granville 8. Pattison, Martin Payne and Gunning S. Bedford, After serving as assistant sur

geon in the hospital attached to that institution some four months, he returned home, married, and went to practice at his father's, in Greene county. Practicing there till 1853, he moved to Wheelock, Robertson county, Texas, where he practiced two years ; moved to Williamsburg, Kentucky, and practiced till 1857, when he moved back to Greene county, Tennessee, to a farm given him by his father, and practiced medicine and farmed till 1868, when he settled in Morristown, where he has practiced ever since, with the exception of the year 1870, when he was in the commission business at Chattanooga, a venture that proved financially disas- trous.

During the war, he was a Union man, but prac- ticed medicine all the time, not going into either army as a soldier. Since the war he has voted with the Democrats. For a number of years he was exam- ining surgeon for the pension office at Morristown. Ile also served as an alderman, at Morristown, several years.

Dr. Neilson first married in Knox county, Kentucky, October 28, 1818, Miss Jane R. Herndon, who was born December 24, 1824, the only daughter of Benjamin F. Herndon, a farmer and stock-trader, originally from Virginia. Her mother, Theodosia Renfro, was the daughter of William Renfro, also a Virginian. Mrs. Neilson's only brother, Dr. O. P. Herndon, is now a prominent physician at Barboursville, Kentucky. Mrs. Neilson was educated at Greeneville, Tennessee, was a woman of great energy, of decided domestic tastes, a member of the Christian (Campbellite) church, and died, February 24, 1876, leaving her husband three children living: (1). Nellie Neilson, educated at Morristown, married George S. Crouch, cashier of the Fourth Na- tional Bank of Morristown, has three children, Katie, Jennie and Lillie. (2). Sallie Neilson, educated at Mor- ristown, married A. G. Stewart, now at Buffalo, New York, a fine business man. They have two children, Alexander and Gaines. (3). William B. Neilson, now a practicing physician at Whitesburg, Tennessee. Dr. Neilson's second marriage, which transpired at Russell- ville, Tennessee, September 11, 1877, was with Miss Mollie M. Burts, daughter of John Burts. Her mother was a Miss Finch. By this marriage, Dr. Neilson has two children : (1). Ludie Neilson. (2). Cora Neilson.

Dr. Neilson became a Mason, in Greeneville, Ten- nessee, in 1816, has taken the Chapter degrees, and has served as Captain of the Host. He is a quiet, pleasant- mannered man, sociable, friendly, but not obtrusive, is not a man to take trouble to heart, is devoted to his practice, with a ruling ambition to educate his children for advancement in life. A peculiarity of this gentle- man is that, when a patient badly needs his attention,

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he stays with him, treating him conscientiously, and will not leave him to go to a new patient. This has always been his course, and by this means he has saved the life of many a man who, had he left him to attend to another call, must have died. It occurs to the editor that if a physician should leave a patient needing his

attention, and he should die, that the doctor must ever thereafter be a miserable man.

Dr. Neilson is about medium height, weighs one hun- dred and seventy pounds, is of broad, compact build, is very dressy, and impresses one as a man content to do his duty and given to the enjoy ment of life.

HON. JAMES M. GREER.

MEMPHIS.

FUDGE GREER, though comparatively young, has made for himself a fine reputation as a criminal judge, and has, besides, the distinction of being the youngest judge in the State. The secret of his emi- nence is attributable not ouly to what he believes, but to that which he enforces by practice. Criminal law, he holds, is the enforcement of the demands of a com- munity, that every man shall observe a decent respect for the opinions and rights of mankind. It is not less the prerogative than the duty of man to obey law. Obedience is the expression of his manhood and of his love of liberty. It measures the value he sets on free- dom. A criminal judge, sitting to determine whether men properly obey the law, should himself be a man of high moral tone, fine character, a man of mark, quick to perceive, and prompt to act upon his conceptions. The administration of his court should not be harsh, nor yet merciful, but rigid and directed to the sup- pression of crime and immorality in whatever form they manifest a contempt for organic society, and should guard the statutes designed to protect the pub- lic. Though a kind-hearted man, he should be a firm judge, punctual in attendance to business, granting and insisting on the speedy trial of prisoners, and keeping his docket cleared. These are the leading traits in the intricate character of Judge Greer, and which, the law- yers of' Memphis say, peenliarly fit him for a criminal judge, especially because he is fearless and, cannot be swayed in thought or speech or action by what has be- come known as the " popular breeze." He is of that class of men who are not for the moment merely. but have lasting qualities, and are destined to live. Re- markable for his skill in the analysis of character, he is likewise distinguished for his discriminating esti- mates of men. In the administration of his office, he has never been swerved by public clamor. When old evils that bad fastened as a sore on the body politie had been given over as incurable, mild salves being applied by others, he, with the boldness of a skillful surgeon, cut them out -- gambling, for instance -- and received as his immediate reward much hostile criticism and bitter condemnation. The Que he accepted good humoredly, and followed the path of duty, unmoved by the other. Per sequence, he instituted many reforms which were

at first condemned, but in six months the papers that had censured, applauded him for his achievements.

James M. Greer was born in Holly Springs, Miss- issippi, October 27, 1847, and there grew to the age of sixteen. After receiving an academic education at Holly Springs, he became a'cadet in the Virginia Mili- tary Institute, " the West Point of the South." Early in 1864, the battalion of cadets, of which he was a member, went into the Confederate army, Col. Shipp commanding the battalion of four companies, serving in Virginia until April 3, 1865, when, upon the evacuation of Richmond, the battalion was disbanded. Young Greer served throughout as a private, and the gallant body of young soldiers, of which he was a mem- ber, served under Gen. Breckinridge in the charge at New Market, in the Shenandoah Valley, in the engage- ment at Lexington, in defense of Lynchburg when it was attacked by Hunter, and in a number of skirmishes around Richmond.

The war over, he returned, at the age of eighteen, to his father's home in Holly Springs, finding the family so impoverished as to render it necessary to leave their town home and go to their plantation, in De Soto county, Mississippi. There he spent five years, work- ing on the farm, studying law at such intervals as he could find between plowing, scraping cotton, and other work incidental to a Mississippi plantation. For- tunately, he had the assistance of his father, an able, retired lawyer, and, therefore, his nights and odd times were spent profitably. He went to Memphis, completed his law studies, and was licensed to practice by Judges C. W. Heiskell and W. L. Scott, and began practice with three acquaintances and one hundred and fifty dol- lars in his pocket, showing the confidence he had in himself' and the stuff that was in him. While waiting for the coming client, he helped to eke out his exist- ence by writing anonymous articles for the New York Ledger. After a while, however, clients did come, and his practice gradually increased until March 24, 1883, when he was appointed judge of the criminal court of Shelby county, his present position. Like his family for three generations before him, Judge Greer is a Democrat, but not a strict partisan, nor has he taken an active part in politics. He is a Knight of Honor,

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and of the Royal Asylum. In religion, he is a Prot- estant Episcopalian, as is also his wife.

Judge Greer married in St. Charles, Missouri, Sep- tember 27, 1877, Miss Betty Buckner Allen, a native of Lexington, Kentucky, a daughter of Dr. John R. Allen, who, from 1860 to his death, in 1877, was a prom- inent practitioner at Memphis, formerly physician in charge of the Insane Asylum at Lexington, Kentucky. He was a member of the Iowa State senate, from Keo- kuk, in 1856, and distinguished himself in that body by introducing measures for the care of the insane, a subject which was a specialty with him, and for which he became widely known.

By his marriage with Miss Allen, Judge Greer has three children, all born at Memphis: Allen James Greer, Autry Greer, and Rowan Adams Greer.

Judge Greer's great-great-grandfather, James Greer, came from the north of Ireland, where some members of the family were members of Parliament. He settled in Virginia, on the Potomac river. His son, James Greer (Judge Greer's great-grandfather), was born there soon after the arrival of the family in Virginia. He became a lieutenant in the American army in the Revolution- ary war, married a Miss Hayne, of the celebrated South Carolina family of that name; and after the war was a farmer in Virginia. His son, also named James Greer (Judge Greer's grandfather), was born and grew to manhood in Virginia, married a Miss Searey, emigrated first to Georgia, thence to Sumner county, Tennessee, where James M. Greer, Judge Greer's father, was born, January 22, 1816. Shortly after the birth of Judge Greer's father, the grandfather moved to Paris, Ten- nessee, and there the son was reared. The family subsequently moved to Holly Springs, Mississippi, where James M. Greer, having studied law, entered upon practice, and won much distinction in his pro- fession. He married Miss Mary Elizabeth Antry, De- cember. 22, 181, and soon after retired from prac- tice, engaged in planting, and subsequently represented De Soto county in the Mississippi Legislature. Here moved to Corsicana, Texas, in March, 1876, and there died, March 21, 1879. He was noted for his keen ap- preciation of humor, for the great strength with which he could use good humored ridicule as a weapon, and for his large fund of accurate information, historical and political. His detestation of sham and his great sincerity of speech, made him the champion of the weak, but gave him a large number of enemies among the strong. He had no patience with anything that approached pretense, fraud and hypocrisy. He was a man of strong character, but without the train- ing of a mother, as she died when he was only three years old. One of his brothers, Hon. Robert S, Greer, of Marshall county, Mississippi, was for twenty-five years in the State senate, and during that long period of service was identified with the early law making of that State, and, without being a great man, was conspicuous

for his clear, common sense and devotion to honest and economical goverment. Another brother, Gen. El- kanah Greer, was a lieutenant in Jefferson Davis' regi- ment in the Mexican war, and afterwards a major- general in the Confederate army, under Gen. Price.

Judge Greer's mother, nee Miss Mary E. Autry, was born in Jackson, Tennessee, February 7, 1827, daugh- ter of Maj. Micajah Autry, whose name is the first on the monument that marks the Alamo, where he died in the struggle for Texan independence. He was of French stock. Born to fortune and reared in easy cir- cumstances, having no business aptitude, he spent his inheritance carly in his married life. With Crockett he went to Texas, at the time of the revolution there, in the desperate hope of winning fame and fortune for his family. A descendant of a line of soldiers, he naturally took to this calling. When the bloody massacre at the Alamo came, he fell with Crockett, Travis, Bowie, and the remainder of the one hundred, and as Leonidas and his gallant band at Thermopyl immortalized Spartan history, so they gave an illustrious page to that of America. His wife (Judge Greer's grandmother), was Miss Martha Wyche Putney, a native of Virginia, and descendant of an English family. When a widow, she removed to Holly Springs, and with an indomitable will that nothing could conquer, succeeded in raising and educating her son and daughter. The daughter became the mother of Judge Greer. The son, Col. James L. Autry, graduated at St. Thomas' Hall, Holly Springs, was elected to the Legislature, and made speaker of the Mississippi house of representatives at the age of twenty-two, the youngest speaker in the United States. He was the military governor of Vicks- burg at the beginning of the siege, and at the demand of Admiral Farragut for surrender, made the celebrated response, " Mississippians don't know how to surren- der." He was afterward colonel of the Twenty-seventh Mississippi regiment, and was killed at the head of his command, in the battle of Murfreesborough, December 31, 1863. Judge Greer's mother is now living at Corsi- cana, Texas, She has four children, all lawyers : Hal. Wyche Greer, at Beaumont, Texas, Robert Autry Greer, and De Edward Greer, at Corsicana, Texas, and the eldest, James M. Greer, the subject of this sketch. She inherited from her French ancestry the enthusiasm and courage which marks that people, and has sobered it by taking from her English stock common sense and unflinching perseverance. She is possessed of rare mu- sical and poetic talent, which she has cultivated to an extreme, but used neither, except for the training of her children and the entertainment of her friends. A religionist, whose faith in Jesus as the Son of God has never wavered, she has anxiously read and studied all that Darwin, Huxley and Tyndall have said about the material world, believes in evolution, and reconciles it with Christianity

Judge Greer has not accumulated a large property.

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Like many other lawyers, he seems to have accepted Sydney Smith's idea, to live happily, bring up his family, and seek to do no man harm. Necessarily, therefore, he has spent for them his professional income as he made it, yet he is in quite independent circum- stances. His first ambition has been to hand down to his children the same thing he received from his fa- ther-a clean and honest name; his second has been to win for himself' the reputation of being a just and a truthful man. Incident to these ambitions he has de- sired, by study and reading, to know what the wise have thought and to apply that thought to his every- day life, so that he might remember that whilst the world was made for him, it was also made for his neigh- bor. His desire for political distinction, which in- spired him in his younger days, he has had to lay aside for the duties devolved upon him as the head of a family. His leading characteristic is dogged, unflinch- ing persistence, which amounts at times to the appear- ance of obstinacy. His course points out clearly that he does what he deliberately thinks is right. He is in- flexibly honest. and has a reputation as a dispassionate, logical and upright jurist.

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 97

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