Davidson County TN

Biography of Robert Britton Buford

The present mayor of Eufaula, Dr. Robert Britton Buford, was for ten years engaged in the practice of dentistry here and he is now, in connection with his official duties, active in the conduct of the Indian Journal, of which paper he is editor and proprietor. A native of Texas, he was born in Sulphur Springs, on the 23d of April, 1879, a son of John C. and Elizabeth (Askew) Buford, the former a native of Texas and the latter of Georgia. On attaining manhood the father engaged in farming on his own account in Texas and he was active … 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 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

Slave Narrative of Measy Hudson

Person Interviewed: Measy Hudson Location: Nashville, Tennessee Place of Birth: North Carolina Age: 79-80 Place of Residence: 1209 Jefferson St., Nashville, Tennessee “Wuz bawn’ in North Carolina en I’se 90 y’ars ole in November. W’en war broke out we kum ter Tennessee en hab bin ‘yer eber since. Wuz ‘yer w’en old Hood fi’rd de cannons. He said he wuz kum’n ‘yer ter Christmas dinnah, but he didn’t do hit.” “Mah white folks wuz named Harshaw. Marster Aaron Harshaw d’ed en we wuz willed ter his chilluns en dat we wuz not ter be whup’d er ‘bused in anyway. We … Read more

Washington Irving at Fort Gibson, 1832

Irving Washington

The McIntosh Creeks had been located along Arkansas River near the Verdigris on fertile timbered land which they began at once to clear, cultivate, and transform into productive farms. The treaty of 1828 with the Cherokee gave the latter a great tract of land on both sides of Arkansas River embracing that on which the Creeks were located. This was accomplished by a blunder of the Government officials, in the language of the Secretary of War, “when we had not a correct knowledge of the location of the Creek Indians nor of the features of the country.” This situation produced … 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

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 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

Slave Narrative of Rev. John Moore

Person Interviewed: Rev. John Moore Location: Nashville, Tennessee Place of Birth: Georgia Place of Residence: 809 7th Avenue So., Nashville, Tennessee “I wuz bawn in Georgia (exact time not known) en mah mammy wuz half Indian en mah daddy a slave. Both ob dem owned by William Moore. Sum time atter dat Marster Moore sold mah daddy en den de Moore Sistuhs looked atter me en wuz allus good ter me. “Lawdy, dey wuz good white folks.” “Durin’ slavery times de slaves would hab ter git fum dere marster a pas’ ‘fore dey could visit dere own people on de … Read more

Slave Narrative of Jenny Greer

Person Interviewed: Jenny Greer Location: Nashville, Tennessee Place of Birth: Florence, Alabama Age: 84 Place of Residence: 706 Overton Street, Nashville, Tennessee “Am 84 y’ars ole en wuz bawn in Florence, Alabama, ’bout seben miles fum town. Wuz bawn on de Collier plantashun en Marster en Missis wuz James en Jeanette Collier. Mah daddy en mammy wuz named Nelson en Jane Collier. I wuz named atter one ob mah Missis’ daughters. Our family wuz neber sold er divided.” “I’se bin ma’ied once. Ma’ied Neeley Greer. Thank de Lawd I aint got no chilluns. Chilluns ez so bad now I can’t … Read more

The Seminole War of 1816 and 1817 – Indian Wars

colonel clinch

After the close of the war with Great Britain, in 1815, when the British forces were withdrawn from the Florida’s, Edward Nicholls, formerly a colonel, and James Woodbine, a captain in the British service, who had both been engaged in exciting the Indians and Blacks to hostility, remained in the territory for the purpose of forming combinations against the southwestern frontier of the United States. Nicholls even went so far as to assume the character of a British agent, promising the Creeks the assistance of the British forces if they would rise and assert their claim to the land which … 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

Biography of William Davidson Hume

William Davidson Hume, conducting a real estate, loan and insurance business and also closely identified with the oil industries through the handling of oil and gas leases, was born November 12, 1864, in Jefferson county, Tennessee, a son of David Patterson and Rebecca (Thomas) Hume. The father devoted his life to the occupation of farming and William D. Hume remained on the home farm to the age of twenty years, gaining intimate knowledge of farm life and methods through actual experience in the work of the field. He supplemented a public school education by study in the business college at … 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 Milton Donaldson

Milton Donaldson (deceased), the largest capitalist of Lake County, was a native of Alabama, but spent part of his youth in Nashville. After moving to Donaldson’s Point, Missouri, he married Theresa Baird. Mr. Donaldson was a self made man. When he married he had nothing, and by hard work and good management he accumulated an estate worth $150,000. He had but one son, who died in childhood. He was a democrat in politics. Mrs. Donaldson was a Methodist. In 1877 Mr. Donaldson left his home one afternoon to look after his stock. While absent a villain by the name of … Read more

Biography of William Peyton Waggener

William Peyton Waggener, only son of Hon. Balie Peyton Waggener, had followed in the footsteps of his father in the profession of law, and had attained enviable rank and prominence in the profession at Atchison. He was born at Atchison June 18, 1870, and grew up in his native city, where he attended the public schools and St. Benedict’s College. In 1887 he graduated from the Military School at Boonville, Missouri, and for two years was a student in Midland College at Atchison. He then entered the law office of his father and after a careful preparation was admitted to the bar … Read more

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

Slave Narrative of Samuel Sutton

Interviewer: Miriam Logan Person Interviewed: Samuel Sutton Location: Lebanon, Ohio Place of Birth: Garrett County Kentucky Date of Birth: 1854 Miriam Logan, Lebanon, Ohio Warren County, Dist. 2 July 2, 1937 Interview with SAMUEL SUTTON, Ex Slave. Born in Garrett County, Kentucky, in 1854 (drawing of Sutton) [TR: no drawing found] “Yes’em, I sho were bo’n into slavery. Mah mothah were a cook-(they was none betteah)-an she were sold four times to my knownin’. She were part white, for her fathah were a white man. She live to be seventy-nine yeahs an nine months old.” “Ah was bo’n in Garrett … Read more

Slave Narrative of Andy Odell

Person Interviewed: Andy Odell Location: Nashville, Tennessee PLace of Birth: Spring Hill, Tennessee Age: 96 Place of Residence: 1313 Pearl Street, Nashville, Tennessee “I wuz bawn east ob Spring Hill, Tennessee. I dunno in w’at y’ar, but I wuz a ful’ grown man w’en I wuz freed. (This will make him about 96 years old.). I wuz an onlies’ chile en I nebber knowed mah daddy. Mah mammy wuz sold ‘way fum me. She ma’ied a man named Brown en dey had seven chillun.” “At fust I ‘longed ter Marster Jim Caruthers. W’en his daughter ma’ied Fount Odell, I wuz … Read more

Biography of Jesse L. Blakemore, M. D.

Dr. Jesse L. Blakemore, a physician and surgeon of Muskogee since 1891 and now president of the Physicians and Surgeons Hospital of this city, was born in Greenwood, Arkansas, and after acquiring a public school education continued his studies in the Emory and Henry College of Virginia, there completing his course with the class of 1885. His liberal literary training has served as an excellent foundation on which to build the superstructure of professional knowledge. Desiring to become a physician, he matriculated in the medical department of Vanderbilt University at Nashville, Tennessee, and was graduated with the class of 1888. … Read more