Smith County TN

Biography of Beverly B. Evetts

BEVERLY B. EVETTS. The pages of history fail to disclose an older or more honorable calling than that of the farmer, and among its most honorable votaries is Beverly B. Evetts, who is a product of Smith County, Tennessee, where he was born April 2, 1847, to James H. and Sarah A. (Hubbard) Evetts, who were also natives of Smith County, and where they were reared and married. In 1847 they came to Arkansas and located in Wallace Township, Stone County, of which section they were among the very first settlers. After making several changes they located on the farm … Read more

Biography of J.L. Colvert

J. L. Colvert, retired merchant, was born in 1828 in Culpeper County, Va., the son of William I. and Harriett (Weedon) Colvert. The father, born in the same county in 1791, was a farmer and a soldier in the war of 1812, on duty in his native State. In 1828 he came to Warren County, Tenn., Thence to Alabama for a few years, and about 1840 returned to Cannon County, Tenn. He finally settled in Dekalb County in 1848 and bought a home of 150 acres, where he lived the greater part of his life. He died in Nashville in … Read more

Biography of John R. B. Lancaster

JOHN R. B. LANCASTER. This prominent pioneer of Stone County, Arkansas, owes his nativity to Smith County, Tennessee, his birth occurring ten miles from Carthage, February 20, 1831. His parents, John and Clarissa (Decker) Lancaster, were born in Tennessee, and came to Arkansas in March, 1844, locating in what is now Round Bottom, Stone County, where the father’s death occurred March 21, 1855, at the age of sixty-one years. and the mother’s in 1863, when she was a few years younger than her husband. The latter was a soldier of the War of 1812 under Jackson, and was probably a … Read more

Biography of John Hailey

The well-known pioneer and statesman of Idaho from whom the town of Hailey takes its name, is now a resident of Bellevue, this state. He has been twice elected a delegate to congress from this territory, and is one of the best informed men in the state on national affairs. Mr. Hailey is a native of Smith County, Tennessee, born August 29, 1835, of Scottish ancestry and a descendant of a family long resident in the Old Dominion, his grandfather, Philip Hailey, and his father, John Hailey, having been both natives of Virginia. His father married Miss Nancy Baird, a … Read more

Biography of Lodwick Vaden

Lodwick (Uncle Lodwick) Vaden was born in Smith County, Tennessee, on January 29, 1817. At this time he is 8 years of age, a hale, hearty old gentleman of wonderful vitality. He married Miss Nancy E. Dowdle when he was 23 years old, in the State of Mississippi. By this union ten children came to them, whose names are as follows: Miss Mary, married Alonzo De Spain, and are located in DeLeon, Comanche County; Woodson, married Miss Martin; Miss Sallie, married Piney Welch, a prominent well to do citizen of Hopkins County. Miss Judie is yet single and resides with … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Capt. J.T. Exum

Capt. J. T. Exum, merchant, was born December 4, 1842, in Smith County, Tenn. He is the son of Kinchen D. and Elizabeth (Allen) Exum, the former born in 1821, in Smith County, and the latter in 1821, in Wilson County. His grandfather, William a native of North Carolina, was one of the earliest pioneers of Smith County, where he died. Reared on a farm, our subject was educated at Cumberland Institute, in White County, and soon enlisted in the Federal Army as private, then corporal, then second lieutenant and recruiting officer for the Fifth Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry. He was … Read more

Biography of Col. Randolph D.Casey

COL. RANDOLPH D. CASEY. To this gentleman belongs the distinction of having built the first house in Mountain Home. He entered the land where the town is now situated, and has President Buchanan’s signature to his land patent. Col. Casey was born in Smith County, Tennessee, on March 10, 1810, and is the son of Hiram Casey, who died in Hardeman County, Tennessee, in 1828, at the age of thirty-nine years. He was a Missionary Baptist minister and a man of worthy principles. The mother, Catharine De Priest, was born in Georgia. She came to Arkansas with the subject of … 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

Biography of Hon. J.J. Ford

Hon. J. J. Ford, attorney at law, was born in Dekalb (then Smith) County November 22, 1822. He is one of ten children of Daniel and Mary (Fite) Ford, the former of Irish origin. The father, born about 1794 in South Carolina, was the son of Daniel Ford, Sr., of Virginia, who became one of the earliest settlers of Tennessee, when Daniel, Jr., was but a small boy. He settled in Smith County near what is now Temperance Hall, where he remained until his death. With ordinary education in his youth, Daniel, Jr., married about 1818 and spent his life … Read more

Biography of W.W. Patterson

W. W. Patterson, one of the leading business men of Alexandria, was born in Smith County in 1843, the second of eight children of Samuel F. and Catherine (Smith) Patterson. The father was of Scotch-Irish descent, born in Wilson County in 1801, and the son of Samuel Patterson, a native of Ireland who immigrated to America at about the age of sixteen. He settled in Wilson County, where he married and spent the remainder of his life as a tiller of the soil. Samuel F. was first married to Miss Lucy Waters, by whom he had two children, one living. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of G. Squires M.D.

G. Squires, M. D., was born in 1839, near Middleton, Smith County, one of eight children, four living, of John and Maria (Gulick) Squires, the former of Scotch-Irish origin, Born in Virginia about 1795, and the mother of like ancestry, born about 1804 in Smith County, Tenn. The father’s parents settled at the head of Plunkett Creek in Smith County about 1800, when he was a boy. He was a farmer and a soldier of the Mexican war, the long service in which, during its whole course, lift him in such feeble health that he died in a few years … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Parrish Langford

Parrish Langford married Sally Lawrence, of North Carolina, and they settled first in Virginia, from whence they re-moved to Smith Co., Tenn. They had five children William, Arthur, Jesse, Henry, and Moses. William, who was a soldier in the war of 1812, married Sally King, of South Carolina, and settled in Warren County in 1818. Their children were Elizabeth, Polly, Nancy, Sally A., Delila, Lawrence, Arthur, Joshua, Jesse, Richard W., John, William, and Henry. Nancy and Delila married and settled in Pike Co., Mo. Lawrence, Henry, Jesse, William, and Arthur married and settled in Warren County. Joshua settled in Lawrence … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Dr. Thos. P. Davis

Dr. Thos. P. Davis, one of Alexandria’s most respected citizens, was born in Smith County, August 31, 1858. He is the youngest of ten children of Benjamin and Kittie (Whorley) Davis. The father was born in North Carolina about 1817, and moved to Tennessee when a young man; afterward married and settled in Smith County. He was one of the most substantial, enterprising and industrious farmers in the section. His death occurred about the close of the late war. His wife was a native of Virginia and came to Tennessee with her parents; she died when the Doctor was an … Read more

Biography of Judge Napoleon B. Maxey

Judge N. B. Maxey has the distinction of holding the oldest license to practice law in the Oklahoma courts. Notwithstanding the fact he is still active in the profession, maintaining his once in Muskogee but frequently called to other sections of the state in connection with his specialty of insurance and surety law. He was born in Smith County, Tennessee, July 15, 1853, and the fact that his father, Thomas J. Maxey, was of French extraction probably accounts for the name given to the future Muskogee lawyer, Napoleon Bonaparte Maxey. Whether the name carries with it any qualifications that to … 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

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

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

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

Biography of Henry McMillan

HENRY MCMILLAN. This gentleman has been a resident of Arkansas since 1826, and a resident of Boone County since 1835. He was born in Smith County, Tennessee, December 19, 1814, being one of a family of ten children born to Malcom and Joanna (Jacobs) McMillan, who were born and brought up in North Carolina, and removed to Smith County, Tennessee, in 1805. The father died in Boone County, Arkansas, in 1837, and his widow in 1872. The father was a soldier under General Jackson, in the battle of New Orleans, in the War of 1812; in politics a Democrat, and … Read more

Biography of T.W. Fitts

T. W. Fitts, a farmer and stock dealer of the Tenth District, was born March 4, 1832, in Smith County. He is the youngest of six children of Wootson and Tabitha (Winfrey) Fitts. The father was born in 1787, near Halifax, Virginia. He was lieutenant of a company in the war of 1812, was under command of Gen. Jackson at New Orleans; he came to Tennessee about 1822, and died near Eddyville, Ky., about 1850. The mother was born about 1787 near Petersburg, Va., and came to Tennessee after her marriage. Our subject had but limited educational advantages, but is … Read more