Wilson County TN

Biography of Frank Lee

From the year which brought statehood to Oklahoma, Frank Lee has been a member of the Muskogee bar and is regarded as one of the strong and eminent representatives of the profession in this part of the state. He has engaged in the practice of law altogether for thirty-five years and his professional career has been marked by continuous progress and constantly developing power. Born in Stockwell, Indiana, December 9, 1864, he is a son of Captain Smith Lee, who served with the Boys in Blue in the Civil war, becoming a member of Company I, Eleventh Indiana Cavalry. After … Read more

Biography of Hon. Philetus Averitt

In the Weekly Capital, published in Boise, June 17, 1899, appeared the following sketch of him whose name introduces this article. “Hon. Philetus Averitt was born in Mayfield, Kentucky, thirty-one years ago. He was educated at Bethel College and Cumberland University, and practiced law in his native town for one year. Six years ago he came to St. Anthony, Idaho, and commenced the practice of his profession. In a few years he has built up a first-class practice, and is recognized as an able and painstaking member of the legal profession. In 1896 Mr. Averitt gave his splendid abilities to … Read more

Biography of Leroy Adams

LEROY ADAMS. This gentleman is regarded as one of the most enterprising pioneers of his district, and it is a pleasure to chronicle here the events that mark his life as one of usefulness. Material wealth must not exclude the riches of character and ability in recounting the virtues which have been brought to this country by its citizens, and among its most precious treasures must be estimated the lives of those citizens who have by their intelligence and their eminence in the higher walks of life assisted in raising the standard of life and thought in the communities in … 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 Charles Baird Stark

Charles Baird Stark, one of the ablest lawyers of Missouri, whose ability is combined with a high sense of duty and professional honor, was born in Springfield, Robertson county, Tennessee, June 13, 1854. He is a son of Joseph Carter Stark, and a grandson of John Stark, who was born in Virginia and removed to Tennessee in 1812. He was a planter and was the only one of a line of Starks that was not a lawyer, back to a John Stark, who was admitted to the bar, in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1665. In the possession of Charles B. Stark, … Read more

Wilson County, Tennessee Cemetery Transcriptions

Tennessee Cemetery records are listed by county then name of cemetery within the Tennessee county. Most of these are complete indices at the time of transcription, however, in some cases we list the listing when it is only a partial listing. Following Cemeteries (hosted at Wilson County, Tennessee Tombstone Transcription Project) Allcorn Cemetery Alsup Cemetery Alsup, (Buck) Cemetery Bailey Cemetery Baird Cemetery Baird Cemetery Baird Cemetery Bandy-Nichols Cemetery Barrett Cemetery Barton’s Creek Cemetery Beadle Cemetery Beadle Cemetery Bell Cemetery Bell Cemetery Bellwood Church Cemetery Bennett-Bass Cemetery Bentley Cemetery Bethany Cemetery Bethany Cemetery Addendum Bethel Baptist Bethesda Cemetery Bethlehem Cemetery Bettis-Mosley … Read more

Biography of S.B. Prichard

S. B. Prichard, a respected agriculturist of the Nineteenth District, was born in Wilson County in 1820. He is the third of eight children of Benjamin and Mary A. (Campbell) Prichard. The father was born April 16, 1792, in Virginia and came to the portion of Tennessee now known as Dekalb County in 1808. He was in Col. James Tubb’s regiment, under command of Gen. Jackson, at New Orleans. His death was caused by rheumatism, which he contracted during the war. The exposure was very great. He made his way home from New Orleans on foot, his only provisions until … Read more

Biographical Sketch of G. S. Deakins

G. S. Deakins, farmer, of the Thirteenth District of Coffee County, Tennessee, was born in Marion County (now Sequatchie) Tennessee, in 1832, and is the son of William and Sarah (Richards) Deakins, natives of Tennessee. The father died in 1848 and the mother in 1836. Both were members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Reared on the farm with a common school education, he also attended Burritt College at Spencer, Tennessee, and later, Emory and Henry College of Virginia. Having entered the law school of Lebanon (Tennessee) University in 1860, the civil war caused him to enter the confederate service, in … Read more

Biography of Thomas Murray Pierce

Thomas Murray Pierce, a man of splendid professional qualifications and of high social standing in St. Louis, is practicing at the bar as a member of the firm of Jourdan, Rassieur & Pierce and is also vice president and general counsel of the Terminal Railway Association, of which at one time he served as president. He was born in Union City, Tennessee, July 18, 1877. His father, Rice A. Pierce. also a native of that state, is a representative of an old Tennessee family of Welsh lineage that was founded in America by Rice Pierce, who came to the new … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Joseph Martin Lynch

(See Grant and Adair)-Joseph Martin Lynch, born July 30, 1881, educated in Male Seminary and Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee, graduating from the Law Department of the latter, but refused to take the Tennessee bar examination because Negroes were included in the class. Elected Register of Deeds of Adair County, September 17, 1807. He married Hazel Capitola Mason. He served for several years as attorney for the Interior Department and on November 8, 1919, refused the appointment of Register of the United States Treasury, because it would be impossible for him to take his aged father from his home and friends … Read more

Biographical Sketch of George W. Cross

George W. Cross, a prominent lawyer of Manchester, Tennessee, was born in Anderson County August 31, 1849. He is the son of William and Jane (Black) Cross, both of English descent and natives of Anderson County. The former, born in 1810, is still living; the latter, born about 1820, died February 26, 1885. Married in 1836 the elder Cross-engaged in farming. He is a democrat, and sympathizes with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of which his wife was a member. Our subject, the fifth of eight children, was educated chiefly at Cumberland University, at Lebanon, Tennessee, and the military school of … 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

Biographical Sketch of J. S. Moore

J. S. Moore, chancery court clerk and master in Coffee County, was born August 24, 1837, in Wilson County. He is the oldest son of Alfred and Elizabeth P. Moore, the former born in 1802, in Tennessee, and died in Manchester in May 1862. The father of Alfred M. was a native of North Carolina. Our subject, living on the farm until twenty years of age, engaged then in merchandising until the war. Soon after enlisting in Company K, Twenty fourth Tennessee Infantry, he was attacked by fever, but on his recovery entered Douglass’ battalion, with which he served until … Read more

Biographical Sketch of W. A. Clark

W. A. Clark, farmer of Coffee County, was born June 17, 1830, in Lebanon. His father, Joshua Clark, was born June 5, 1806, in Maryland, and came to Kentucky early and finally to Lebanon in 1828, engaging at contracting and farming until 1847, since then he has been devoted to the latter. His mother, Sarah (Allen) Clark, daughter of “Billy” Allen, of Lebanon, was born February 14, 1807, in Tennessee. Our subject is of Scotch-Irish descent. Having learned the mechanic’s trade, he left his father’s farm when nineteen and worked at his trade until 1865, since when he has been … 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 Rev. Joseph Franklin Thompson

Rev. Joseph Franklin Thompson, librarian of the Carnegie Library at Tahlequah and superannuated minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, having been retired since 1906, was born May 21, 1841, near Maysville, Arkansas, in what was then the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory. His parents, both of whom are deceased, were James Allen and Martha (Lynch) Thompson, the former a native of South Carolina and the latter a native of Virginia and a member of an old Cherokee family there. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were married in Georgia and came to Beattie’s Prairie in 1838, with a detachment of Cherokees under … Read more

Chickasaw Burial Customs

The Chickasaw lived in the hilly country north of the Choctaw, and although of the same stock they were ever enemies. Many of their customs differed and instead of the elaborate burial ceremonies of the Choctaw, “They bury their dead almost the moment the breath is out of the body, in the very spot under the couch on which the deceased died, and the nearest relations woeful lamentations; the women are very vociferous in it, but the men do it in silence, taking great care not to be seen any more than heard at this business; the mourning continues about … Read more

Biography of John Martin, Hon.

Hon. John Martin, who died at his home in Topeka September 3, 1913, was one of the distinguished Kansans of both the territorial and statehood eras. He was born in Wilson County, Tennessee, November 12, 1833, and was nearly eighty years of age when he died. He was the oldest son of Matt and Mary Martin, who were descended from some of the first settlers of Virginia. It was possible to gain only a meager education in the schools of the frontier district in which he lived, but John Martin made the best of his opportunities and aided by a … Read more

Biography of Hon. John B. Robinson

Hon. John B. Robinson, attorney at law of Smithville, is a native of Dekalb County; was born in 1835. His parents were Alexander and Rachel (Barnes) Robinson. The father was of English descent, born in Cumberland County, Va., about 1804. He came to Tennessee in 1824, locating in Smith (now Dekalb) County. Two years later he settled in the Fourth District. He taught school several sessions and then married. He was surveyor of the county a number of years. He owned 150 acres of fine land at the time of his death in 1867. His wife was born in Dekalb … Read more

Biography of Hon. John A. Fuson

Hon. John A. Fuson, an eminent practicing physician and surgeon of the Fourth District, was born in 1815, in Champaign County, Ohio. He is the third of seven children (three living) of James and Martha (Sneed) Fuson, both of whom were natives of Patrick County, Virginia. The father was of English descent, born in 1792. Two years after marriage he moved to Champaign County, Ohio, where he engaged in farming, occasionally preaching. He died in 1863. The mother was of French origin, born about 1795, and died in 1885. The subject of this sketch received a limited education in the … Read more