History of Tennessee Collections – Page 2 of 9

Biography of Robert Thompson

Robert Thompson, a farmer of Lake County, was the son of Robert and Sallie (Tharp) Thompson. His father was born in Guilford County, North Carolina in 1792, his mother in Rockingham County, North Carolina in 1790; they were married in Guilford County in 1814, and had eight children, five boys and three girls. They moved to Maury County, and lived there until 1847, when they moved to Lake County, which was then called Obion, and his mother died in 1858 and his father March 28, 1860. They were not connected with any church, though Mrs. Thompson was raised a Quaker. … Read more

Biography of Richard C. Everett

Richard C. Everett, an extensive land owner and farmer of Lake County, is the son of William and Christine (McDaniel) Everett. His father was born in North Carolina in 1785; his mother in Scotland in 1795, her parents moving to America, and locating in North Carolina, when she was very small. She married there, and in 1832 Mr. and Mrs. Everett moved to Fulton, Kentucky In 1846 they moved to Madrid Bend. They have six boys and four girls; only three living now. Both were Methodists. Mr. Everett was on extensive farmer, but lost heavily by security debts; he was … Read more

Biography of Rev. M. J. Holifield

Rev. M. J. Holifield, one of the active local ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, of Lake County, is the son of Rev. William and Elizabeth (Copeland) Holifield. His parents were both natives of North Carolina. The father was born in 1782; the mother in 1786. They moved to Kentucky when young, and had sixteen children; seven boys and three girls lived to be grown. The entire family was Methodists, and three of the sons were ministers. Reverend William Holifield was a local minister for forty years. He was in the war of 1812 with General Jackson, and was … Read more

Biography of Rev. Ira W. King

Rev. Ira W. King, pastor of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and a prominent citizen of Alexandria, was born December 3, 1819, in North Carolina. He is the fourth of eight children born to Prof. Tho. H. And Ann (Harris) King. The father was a native of Virginia, born about 1790, of Scotch-Irish descent, a son of Henry King, also a native of Virginia. Tho. H. was reared and liberally educated in his native State. He went to Rockingham County, N. C., when a young man, where he married about 1810. In 1820 he moved to Williamson County, Tenn., and in … Read more

Biography of R.C. Nesmith

R. C. Nesmith, attorney at law of Smithville, was born in Dekalb County in 1837, a son of William A. and Elizabeth M. (McDowell) Nesmith. The father is of Scotch- Irish decent, born in 1799, in York District, South Carolina. In 1809 with his father, William Nesmith, immigrated to Blount County, E. Tenn. A year later they went to northern Alabama, where for a number of years they lived among the Cherokee Indians. In 1824 he came to Dekalb County, and three years later married. He settled in the Nineteenth district, where he engaged in wagon making and farming. There … Read more

Biography of Prof. T. B. Kelly

Prof. T. B. Kelly, A. M., LL. B., president of Pure Fountain College, Smithville, was born in Columbia, Maury Co., Tenn., in 1852. His parents were Thomas J. and Elizabeth (Hardwicke) Kelly. The father was of Irish descent, born March 9, 1810, in Dickson County, Tenn., where his father, Thomas Kelly located after emigrating from Ireland, about 1800. Thomas J. married in 1838, and about 1844 moved to Columbia, where he established a queens ware store, which he managed successfully until the year of his death, 1861. His first wife was of French extraction, born in 1817, in Buckingham County, … Read more

Biography of Pat Geraty

Pat Geraty, a merchant of Dowelltown, was born in 1832 at Castle Bar, County Mio, Ireland. He is one of six surviving children of a family of nine born to John and Catherine (Conway) Geraghty. The father was born in 1795, same place where Pat first saw the light. Early in life he was a carpenter, afterward a farmer. He died about 1880, in the vicinity in which he had always lived. The mother was born about 1798, in the same county, at Clare, and died in 1883. Our subject was educated in the common schools of his childhood’s home … Read more

Biography of P.C. Isbell

P. C. Isbell. His parents were both born in Warren County, Kentucky. His father was of English descent; his mother of German and a granddaughter of Frederick Stump, an early settler in Davidson County, Tennessee. He was born in Warren County, Kentucky. His father moved to Jackson County, Missouri, when he was a small boy, where he grew up in the dark backwoods and never attended school. He had a fine working education. His mother taught him to spell, read, and write and a few rules in arithmetic, what she knew. He mastered Webster’s “blue back.” and then engaged as … Read more

Biography of Mrs. Caroline (Watson) Dickinson

Mrs. Caroline (Watson) Dickinson, the widow of William R. Dickinson, is the daughter of Daniel and Rowena (Bartlett) Watson. Her father was born in North Carolina in 1797 and the mother in Missouri in 1802, where they married and lived until 1820, when they crossed over to Fulton County, Kentucky, and lived there until they died. They had eight children, two boys and six girls. Her mother was a devout Methodist; her father, an energetic farmer, and a democrat, and died in 1865; the mother died in 1869. Mrs. Dickinson was born April 6, 1823, being the first child born … Read more

Biography of Louis E. Simpson

Louis E. Simpson was born in 1840, in Smith County, and was the son of Thos. And Atlanta (Ellison) Simpson, and one of seven children, five living. The father was born near Frankfort, Ky., in 1806, was a son of Jas. Simpson, an early pioneer of Kentucky, and of Irish ancestry. Thomas lost his father when a boy, and at about fifteen years of age came with his mother to Smith County, where he remained until his death in 1862, one of the wealthiest farmers in Smith County. His wife, to whom he was married in about his twenty-fourth year, … Read more

Biography of Lewis B. Morgan

Lewis B. Morgan, lawyer and chairman of the county court, was born in Lincoln County, Tennessee, in 1834. He is the son of Smith and Abigail (Alexander) Morgan, natives of Tennessee. The former was born in 1806, and the latter in 1809. They are now residents of Fayetteville, Tennessee, and are members of the Baptist Church. Until his seventeenth year our subject lived with his parents on the farm, and then learned the blacksmithing trade, following that, together with farming for a number of years. In 1856 he went to Kansas with a company of 365 men, joining them at … Read more

Biography of Levi Bates

Levi Bates, one of the industrious farmers of Lake County, is the son of William and Eliza B. (Jackson) Bates. His parents were born in Buckingham, England. They had eleven children-three boys and eight girls; they were both members of the Missionary Baptist Church. His father owned 150 acres of land and was a farmer, and was guardian of the parish in which he lived. While still in the prime of life, he was walking by a brook, when the bank gave away, and he received a fall, dying from the effect of the injuries sustained. Mrs. Bates still lives … Read more

Biography of Lauchlan Donalsdon

Lauchlan Donaldson, one of the ablest lawyers of Tiptonville, is the son of Wellington and Elizabeth A (Meriweather) Donaldson. His father was born in St. Johns N.B., and when a young man went to the republic of Texas, where he was engaged with a corps of engineers to survey the Guadalupe River, receiving as compensation a large tract of land. In 1843 he moved to Tennessee, and married Miss Meriweather, in Obion County, who was a native of Montgomery County, Tennessee Soon after they were married they settled at Meriweather’s Landing, and made it their permanent home. Mr. Donaldson, Sr., … Read more

Biography of Joseph G. Tipton

Joseph G. Tipton, one of the leading citizens and merchants of Tiptonville, is the son of William and Eliza (Gallaher) Tipton. His father was born in East Tennessee, though raised in Franklin County; from there he moved to Tipton County, and finally to Texas, where he enlisted as a soldier, and received for his services a patent to a tract of land. He then returned to Tennessee, and married Miss Gallaher, a native of Missouri, and they settled in what is now Lake County, and lived there until their death. They had six children, three now living. Mr. Tipton in … Read more

Biography of John M. Mason

John M. Mason, a well-known farmer of the Fifteenth District, was born October 22, 1819, in North Carolina, and came to Smith (now Dekalb) County in 1827. He was the seventh of thirteen children born to Wiley and Nancy (Bensy) Mason. The father was born January 31, 1785, in Virginia. He served in the war of 1812, and was mustered out at the close of the war at Norfolk, Virginia. He moved to Caswell County, N. C., and from there to Smith County in 1827. He was a man of considerable intelligence, well versed in the Bible, in which he … Read more

Biography of Joel B. Smith

Joel B. Smith, a pioneer of Tullahoma, was born in Nashville, Tennessee, September 12, 1829, and is the son of Joel M. and Charlotte (Bateman) Smith. The father was a native of North Carolina, born in 1797, and died in 1861. He was treasurer of Nashville, and United States pension agent, appointed to that office by President Van Buren. He was also proprietor of the Nashville Union, the pioneer newspaper of the capital city. The mother was also born in Nashville in 1805, the daughter of Henry Bateman, an early settler of Nashville. She died in 1876. Both were members … Read more

Biography of James G. Aydelott

James G. Aydelott, lawyer and one of the most prominent citizens of Tullahoma, Tennessee, was born in Hickman, Kentucky, November 3, 1845, and is the son of John D. and Sarah (Grizzard) Aydelott. The father was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee, in 1818, and died at Hickman in 1852. The mother, born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1827, is the daughter of James Grizzard, the pioneer merchant of Tullahoma. When a small boy our subject removed with his mother to Tullahoma, where he has since resided. While a man of good education, his attendance at public school did not exceed three … Read more

Biography of James C. Harris

James C. Harris, one of the leading merchants and farmers of Lake County, is the son of Christopher O. and Jane (Flanagan) Harris. His father was born in Alabama in 1796 and his mother near Lexington, Kentucky in 1800. When a young man he went to Kentucky and married Miss Flanagan, and they spent the rest of their life there. They had five children, three boys and two girls, two of them now living. Mrs. Harris was a Catholic. He was not a church member. He was in the war of 1812 against the Indians; was in politics a Whig. … Read more

Biography of James A. Donnell

James A. Donnell,United States commissioner of internal revenue for the middle district of Tennessee, and an influential citizen of Alexandria, was born August 13, 1834, in Wilson County. He is the eldest of two children of Allan and Casandria H. (Britton) Donnell. The father was a native of Gifford County, N. C., born in 1806, of Irish ancestry, a son of Adlia Donnell, a native of North Carolina, whose father came from Ireland. Allan came to Tennessee about 1832, and a year later married and located in Lebanon, where for some time he taught school, afterward engaging in the mercantile … Read more

Biography of J.W. Motlow

J. L. Bryant & Co. This firm is now composed of H. B. Morgan and J. W. Motlow. It was first established in 1872, by J. L. Bryant (now deceased) and H. B. Morgan. J. L. Bryant had himself been in business in Lynchburg since 1806. He was born September 25, 1824, in Lincoln County, and was reared in west Tennessee, and when a young man returned to Moore County, and on August 24, 1845, married Finetta B. Leftwich, and engaged in merchandising at Charity, in this county, continuing in mercantile pursuits until his death. In 1865 he was at … Read more