Dekalb County TN

Biography of W.R. Smith

Smith, W.R, of the firm Smith Bros., the well-known proprietors of a general store of Smithville, established their house in the fall of 1877. He is the sons of William S. and Catherine J. (Tippitt) Smith. The father was of English-Irish descent, born in Wilson County, Tenn., in 1823. His father, John Y. Smith, was a native of Virginia, and located in Wilson County when a small boy. He died in 1865. William S. married in 1842, and settled in the Eleventh District, where he became the possessor of 175 acres of land. He was a farmer and stock raiser. … 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 I.C. Stone

I. C. Stone, is of English, Irish and Scotch descent. His ancestors settled in the colony of North Carolina. Their descendants mainly kept pace with the tide of immigration to the new States and Territories. The paternal grandfather, Thomas Stone, probably of English, and Scotch origin, married Miss Sally Corder,of Scotch family, about 1789 in North Carolina on the waters of the Yadkins River, and not long after settled in Tennessee, where the father, C. H. Stone, was born December 22, 1796. The maternal grandfather, Joseph Allison, supposed to be partly of English and known to be partly of Irish … Read more

Biographical Sketch of N.M. Brown

N. M. Brown, of Brown & Donnell, Millers, was born in Dekalb County in 1856, the youngest son of six children of Isaiah and Rachel A. (Wood) Brown, both natives of Virginia. The father, of Dutch origin, was born in 1818 and died in 1885. He was the son of John Brown, a tanner. Isaiah was reared and married in his native State, and in 1854 removed to Dekalb County, Tenn., Where he worked at his trade as cooper. The mother, born in 1823, is still living with our subject and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Our … Read more

Biographical Sketch of J. M. Baker

J. M. Baker, a well-known farmer of the Fourteenth District, was born March 31, 1830, in White County, Tenn. His parents were William H. and Lucinda (Erwin) Baker. The father was born about 1800 in Virginia, of English descent, a son of James and Mary (Holmes) Baker. The father was a brave soldier in the war of 1812. He died at Norfolk. His widow immigrated to Tennessee with her children, five daughters and one son. They located in White County, where she died in 1856. William H. died November 14, 1872. His wife was of Irish origin, a daughter of … 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

Biographical Sketch of Isaac Hayes

Isaac Hayes, An enterprising farmer of the Fifteenth District, was born November 3, 1810. In Georgia, and brought when an infant to Dekalb County by his father. He is the third of nine Children born to John and Martha (Young) Hayes. The father was born in South Carolina. He was for some time a resident of Georgia, then Alabama, and finally came to Tennessee, locating where Dekalb County now is. He died when Isaac was a mere boy. Our subject was educated in the subscription schools of the county. He remained with his widowed mother until his marriage. In 1832 … Read more

Biography of Hon. James M. Allen

Hon. James M. Allen, one of the prominent citizens of the county, was born September 25, 1822, at Allen’s Ferry on Caney Fork, seven miles from Smithville, the county seat of Dekalb County, Tenn. He is the youngest of eleven children born to Jesse and Nancy (Walker) Allen, both of whom were natives of Virginia. The father settled in what is now Dekalb County in 1801, being one of the oldest settlers. He died in 1857, and the mother in 1840. Both were members of the Baptist Church. Our subject was reared on the farm and became interested in agriculture. … Read more

Biograpy Sketch of James H. Kitching

James H. Kitching, a prosperous farmer and stock dealer of Alexandria, was born May 28, 1840, in Smith County. He is the fourth of fourteen children of Thomas and Mary (Davis) Kitching. The father was born in Smith County in 1809, a son of James Kitchen who was a native of North Carolina. He immigrated to Tennessee at an early date stopping first at the top of Bledsoe’s Lick, Sumner County, afterward located in Smith County, near the head of Kitching Creek, which was named for him. He was one of the first settlers in that section where his life … 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 Gen. Wm. B. Stokes

Gen. Wm. B. Stokes, one of the leading attorneys and best-known citizens of Alexandria, was born in 1814 in Chatham County, N. C. He is the second and only surviving one of their children of Sylvanus and Mary (Christian) Stokes. The father was of English descent, born in Chatham County, N. C., in 1783, a son of Thos. Stokes who was a native of Virginia and a cousin of ex-Gov. Munford Stokes, of North Carolina. Sylvanus was married in North Carolina about 1810, and in 1818 started for Tennessee, where his father owned large tracts of land. While en route … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Prof. J.L. Boon

Prof. J. L. Boon was born two and a half miles north of Alexandria, in Smithville County, in 1855. He is the fifth of nine children of Jas. N. and Sarah (Barry) Boon. The father was of English descent, one of the same families as the Kentucky pioneer, Daniel Boone. Jas. N. was born in Wilson County in 1817. He was raised and educated mostly in Smith County. By close application to study, he was enabled to enter the teacher’s profession, which he followed in connection with farming. He was one of the most efficient and successful educators of that … Read more

Biography of H.D. Foust

H. D. Foust, of Foust & Jones, carriage manufacturers at Alexandria, was born in Wilson County in 1845, a son of William E. and Betsey (Luster) Foust. The father, born in Wilson County about 1818, was the son of William Foust, a native of Germany. William E. was married in 1844, and was all his life a blacksmith and carriage manufacturer in his native county. He was sheriff of the county four terms. The mother was born in the same county about 1829, and both were members of the Missionary Baptist Church. Educated at Lebanon, our subject at fifteen entered … 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 Hon. Bethel Magness Webb

Hon. Bethel Magness Webb, attorney at law, Smithville, Tenn., was born in Warren County Tenn., September 21, 1847. He is the sixth of thirteen children born to D. W. and Sarah (Magness) Webb. His father was of English descent, Born in Warren County in 1815, a son of Julius Webb, who was a native of North Carolina and came to middle Tennessee in his youth and settled in what is now Warren County. He was on of the pioneers of that section. After marriage D. W. Webb located in the northern part of Warren County, where he lived till his … Read more

Biography of W.G. Bratten

W. G. Bratten, Farmer, was born in 1823, in Smith County (now Dekalb), the oldest of two sons of Henry and Nancy (Givan) Bratton, The former of Irish origin, born in Maryland about 1798, and the latter of Scotch origin, born in the same State about the same year. The mother’s parents came when she was a year old to Nashville by boat after reaching the Ohio River, and where three weeks in cutting a road to Liberty, which was named by her father in honor of their old home in Maryland, as he was something of a leader in … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Hon. J.W. Botts

Hon. J. W. Botts, Attorney at law, is the son of Aron and Sarah (English) Botts, and born on Smith Fork, Dekalb County, in 1830, one of eight children, five of whom are living. The father, of English ancestry, was born in North Carolina, and died in 1860 about sixty years of age. Left an orphan when a child, he was reared and married in his native State, and soon after removed to Kingston, Tenn., and afterward to Dekalb County, as it is known know. He settled at the mouth of Helton Creek where he resumed his business of hatter, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of James T. Quarels

James T. Quarels was born in Wilson County in 1836, the fourth of seven children of William and Eliza (Hopkins) Quarels, both of whom were natives of Virginia, where they were married about 1835. They came to Tennessee, locating in Wilson County, where the remainder of their lives was spent in farming. The father died about 1844, the mother in 1881, both esteemed members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Our subject was educated in the country schools of his native county. About his twentieth year he married a native of Dekalb County, Miss Caroline, daughter of Jonathan and Priscilla … Read more

Biography of A.P. Smith

A. P. Smith, attorney at law and farmer, of Temperance Hall, was born March 23, 1855, where he now resides. He is the youngest of nine children of Nicholas and Penelope (Summers) Smith. His father was born December 2, 1801, in North Carolina, and when a small boy moved to Wilson County, Tenn. He purchased the farm where our subject now resides in 1844, which then included the land now covered by the town. The only cultivated spot of this extensive tract was a small orchard. He soon built a two-story house, in the upper story of which the ” … Read more

Biographical Sketch of D.T. Harrison

D. T. Harrison, druggist, was born in 1856 in Dekalb County, the son of John and Mary (Kelley) Harrison. The father, born in Ireland, came to America with his parents when eight years old, and when eleven left home and in some way settled in White County, Ill. He married in White County and learned the tanner’s trade. He was in the late war about one year, and in 1865 came to Smithville and bought a tan yard of W. H. Magness, at which he continued until 1880, when he was elected register. He served four years and in 1886 … Read more