Davidson County TN

Biographical Sketch of E.J. Evans

E. J. Evans, commercial traveler for Weel, Connell & Riddle, dry goods, shoes, clothing, etc., Nashville, was born in 1850 in the District of Columbia, and now resident of Smithville. He is the son of John G. and Lucinda (Vick) Evans. The father, born in 1819, in Dekalb County, Tenn., is the son of Joseph Evans, a native of Maryland, who, when a boy, came to Tennessee and settled where Liberty, Dekalb County, is located, among the very earliest white settlers. John G. had learned the carpenter trade under his father, and after his marriage in 1844, he settled in … Read more

Biography of Timothy S. Givan

Timothy S. Givan, editor and proprietor of the Tullahoma Messenger, one of the prominent weekly papers of Middle Tennessee, was born in Hardin County, October 8, 1845. He is the son of James M. and Mellona (Needham) Givan, both of whom were born in Kentucky, the former November 4, 1811, and the latter September 19, 1819. The parents, married October 9, 1834, had ten children born to them, six of whom were boys, and of these our subject is the youngest. The mother died April 4, 1854, and in 1856 the father married Rachael Clark. He died October 5, 1859. … Read more

Slave Narrative of Wiley Childress

Person Interviewed: Wiley Childress Location: Nashville, Tennessee Age: 83 Place of Birth: 808 Gay St., Nashville, Tennessee “I’se 83 Y’ars ole en wuz bawn a slave. Mah mammy b’longed ter de Bosley’s en mah daddy b’longed ter de Scales.” “W’en Miss Jane Boxley ma’ried Marster Jerry Scales, me en mah mammy, br’er en sistah wuz gib ter Miss Jane.” “Durin’ de war mah Missis tuk mah mammy en us chilluns wid her ter de mount’ins ’till de war wuz gon’. Did’nt see no soldiers. Don’t member now nuthin’ ’bout dem Klu Klux men en don’t member de ole songs er … Read more

Biography of Dr. George W. Floyd

DR. GEORGE W. FLOYD. The noble profession of medicine affords to the student in that science a never-ending source of investigation and experiment. It is perhaps one of the most trying on brain and body of any in the field of science, for it absorbs the attention of him who practices it conscientiously, both day and night, and brings into play the most versatile powers of his being. Among the prominent physicians and surgeons of Western Grove, Arkansas, stands the name of Dr. George W. Floyd, whose kindly nature instinctively turned to that broad field of human suffering for his … 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

Lambert, John A. – Obituary

John A. Lambert was born in Nashville, Tenn., Feb. 10, 1845, and died July 28, 1917, making him 72 years, 5 months and 18 days old. From Nashville he went with his parents to Illinois, and from there to Missouri.. In 1864 his parents died and he with an older brother crossed the plains, arriving in Oregon in December, 1869. He was converted and joined the Methodist Church of which he was a lifelong member. He was united in marriage to Miss Mary Ellen Coovert, March 13, 1870. Their home was on a farm four miles south of Dayton until … Read more

Biography of Dawson W. Cooley

Dawson W. Cooley is president of the Oxford Bank in Sumner County. His home has been in Kansas for upwards of half a century, and while his years have been chiefly employed in the banking business, he has also identified himself with various other enterprises for the good and upbuilding of this state. Mr. Cooley is one of the surviving veterans of the great Union army during the Civil war. He served during the first two years of that struggle in one of the noted regiments of New York State. His enlistment was in Company C of the Ninth New … Read more

Slave Narrative of Cecelia Chappel

Person Interviewed: Cecelia Chappel Location: Nashville, Tennessee Place of Birth: Marshall County, Tennessee Age: 102 Place of Residence: 705 Allison Street, Nashville, Tenn. “I’se bawn in Marshall County, Tennessee. I’m de olest ob ten chilluns en I’se 102 ya’rs ole. I feels lak I’se bin ‘yer longer dan dat. Mah mammy wuz brought ter Nashville en sold ter sum peeple dat tuck her ter Mississippi ter live.” “Mah Marster en Missus wuz named Bob en Nancy Lord. Eve’y slave had ter say Missus en Marster en also ter de white babies. I still says hit, en ef I kum ter … Read more

Slave Narrative of Patsy Hyde

Person Interviewed: Patsy Hyde Location: Nashville, Tennessee Place of Residence: 504 9th Avenue N., Nashville, Tennessee “Dunno how ole I ez. I wuz bawn in slavery en b’longs ter de Brown family. Mah Missis wuz Missis Jean R. Brown en she wuz kin ter Abraham Lincoln en I useter y’ar dem talkin’ ’bout ‘im livin’ in a log cabin en w’en he d’ed she had her house draped in black. Marster Brown wuz also good ter his slaves. De Missis promus Marster Brown on his de’th bed nebber ter let us be whup’d en she kep her wud. Sum ob … Read more

Biographical Sketch of L. D. Hickerson, Jr.

L. D. Hickerson, Jr., a prominent and progressive young citizen of Tullahoma, and cashier of the First National Bank of that place, was born five miles east of there January 13, 1861. He is the son of L. D. Hickerson, Sr., president of the above bank, whose father, John Hickerson, originally of North Carolina, founded one of the oldest and most respected families in this portion of the state. Our subject was reared in Tullahoma, and, after attending the public schools, took a course at Burritt College, Spencer, Tennessee, and later took a complete course at Goodman’s Business College at … Read more

Slave Narrative of H. H. Edmunds

Interviewer: Albert Strope Person Interviewed: Rev. H. H. Edmunds Location: Elkhart, Indiana Place of Birth: Lynchburg, Virginia Date of Birth: 1859 Place of Residence: 403 West Hickory Street Elkhart, Indiana Albert Strope, Field Worker Federal Writers’ Project St. Joseph County-District #1 Mishawaka, Indiana EX-SLAVE REV. H.H. EDMUNDS 403 West Hickory Street Elkhart, Indiana Rev. H.H. Edmunds has resided at 403 West Hickory Street in Elkhart for the past ten years. Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1859, he lived there for several years. Later he was taken to Mississippi by his master, and finally to Nashville, Tennessee, where he lived until … Read more

Biography of Benjamin H. Charles

Benjamin H. Charles, who enjoys the reputation of being one of the leading municipal bond lawyers in the United States and who in the practice of his profession is accorded an extensive clientage in St. Louis, where he makes his home, was born at Chester, Illinois, April 26, 1866, his parents being Benjamin H. and Achsah Susan (Holmes) Charles. The father was a Presbyterian minister of note who led a very active life. He was a man of positive character and high ideals and at different periods acceptably served as pastor of churches in Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri. He was … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Will A. Vick

Will A. Vick, editor of Liberty Herald, born in 1864, at Liberty, is the eldest of three surviving children of William and Sarah A. (West) Vick. The father was born in 1824 in Smith (now Dekalb) County. He has been a merchant of Liberty since the age of nineteen. The mother was born in 1829 at Liberty, where she died in 1881. Our subject received his early education at the Masonic Academy of his native place, and later attended the Vanderbilt University, of Nashville. At the age of twenty he became a member of the firm of William Vick & … Read more

Slave Narrative of Naisy Reece

Person Interviewed: Naisy Reece Location: Nashville, Tennessee Place of Birth: Williamson County TN Age: 80 “I wuz bawn in slavery, in Williamson County, guess I’se ’bout 80 y’ars ole. Think I wuz fou’ w’en de wah started.” “Mah mammy en daddy wuz Mary en Ennock Brown.” “Mah missis en marster wuz Polly en Randall Brown.” “Dunno ob any ob our fam’ly bein’ sold. W’en freedum wuz declar’ we wuz tu’n loose wid nothin’. Mah daddy tuk us down in de kuntry, raised crops en made us wuk in de fiel’.” “I’se cooked a leetle fer urther peeple, but mos’ ob … Read more

Biography of John R. Gaulding

JOHN R. GAULDING. As a dealer in stock and a successful tiller of the soil, Ozark County, Missouri, is well represented by John R. Gaulding, who is the owner of an exceptionally fine farm of 300 acres situated on Barren Fork, it constituting one of the best-improved and most valuable farms in the county. He is a native of Davidson County, Tennessee, where he was born in 1834, a son of John and Polly Gaulding, Virginians, who were reared in the State of their birth, and there also married. They eventually removed to Davidson County, Tennessee, where the mother died … Read more

Slave Narrative of Frankie Goole

Person Interviewed: Frankie Goole Location: Nashville, Tennessee Place of Birth: Smith County TN Age: 84 Place of Residence: 204 5th Ave. So, Nashville, Tennessee “I wuz bawn in Smith County on uther side ob Lebanon. Ah’ll be 85 y’ars ole Christmas Day. Mah ole Missis wuz named Sallie, en mah Marster wuz George Waters. Mah mammy’s name wuz Lucindia, she wuz sold fum me w’en I wuz six weeks ole, en mah Missis raised me. I allus slept wid her. Mah Missis wuz good ter me, but (her son) mah Marster whup’d me. Dunno ob any ex-slaves votin’ er holdin’ office … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Robert Waller Deering

Deering, Robert Waller; university dean; born, Hogansville, Ga., June 27, 1865; son of Rev. John R. and Fannie (Covin) Deering; A. M., Vanderbilt University, 1885; A. M., Ph. D., University of Leipsiz, 1889; married Jessie Winn, of Mt. Sterling, Ky., Sept. 9, 1891; adj. prof. Germanic languages, Vanderbilt, 1890-1892; prof. Germanic languages since 1892, dean, Grad. Faculty, since 1893,. Western Reserve University. Editor: The Little Gipsy (translated from Cervantes La Jitanilla), 1891; Schiller’s Wilhelm Tell, 1894; Schiller’s Wilhelm Tell, spl. edit., 1900; Goethe’s Egmont, 1903; also monographs and reviews on philol. subjects.

Slave Narrative of James Childress

Interviewer: Lauana Creel Person Interviewed: James Childress Location: Evansville, Indiana Place of Birth: Nashville, Tennessee Date of Birth: 1860 Place of Residence: 312 S.E. Fifth Street, Evansville, Indiana Ex-Slave stories District #5 Vanderburgh County Lauana Creel JAMES CHILDRESS’ STORY 312 S.E. Fifth Street, Evansville, Indiana From an interview with James Childress and from John Bell both living at 312 S.E. Fifth Street, Evansville, Indiana. Known as Uncle Jimmy by the many children that cluster about the aged man never tiring of his stories of “When I was chile.” “When I was a chile my daddy and mamma was slaves and … Read more

Slave Narrative of Julia Casey

Person Interviewed: Julia Casey Location: Nashville, Tennessee Place of Birth: Tennessee Place of Residence: 811 9th Avenue, So., Nashville, Tennessee I wuz bawn in West Tennessee en wuz six y’ars ole w’en war broke out. Mah Missis wuz Miss Jennie McCullough en she ma’ried Eldridge Casey. Mah Missis’s mammy wuz a widder en she gib me, mah mammy, man sistah Violet, mah two br’ers Andrew en Alfred ter Miss Jennie fer a wed’un gif’. Missis Jennie en Marster Eldridge brung us ter Nashville ‘fore de war sta’ted. Mah Missis wuz good ter us. I’se bin w’ll tuk keer ob, plenty … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Romulus E. Culver

Romulus E. Culver, attorney at law of St. Joseph, Missouri, was born in Plattsburg, this state, on the 12th of January, 1865, his parents being William L. and Augusta V. (McMichael) Culver. He acquired his education, after completing his public school course, in Central College at Fayette, Missouri, where he won his Bachelor of Philosophy degree in 1885, and in Vanderbilt University at Nashville, Tennessee, where the LL. B. degree was conferred upon him in 1887. Through the intervening period, covering more than a third of a century, he has continuously engaged in the practice of law and has won … Read more