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■• ■-t WILLIAMSON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

JOURNAL Number 8

Spring 1977

Published by

Williamson County Historical Society Franklin, Tennessee 1977

WlLllAMSON COUNTY PUBri'C DBRARY ' .RENTWOOD BRANCH WILLIAMSON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

JOURNAL Number 8

Spring 1977

Published by the Williamson County Historical Society

Mr. & Mrs. George F. Watson, Publication Chairmen

OFFICERS

President . Mrs. William Gatlin Vice-President ...... Mrs. Joe Bowman Treasurer .. . . . Herman Major Recording Secretary . . Mrs. Marvin Rainey Corresponding Secretary ...... Mrs. Jane Bristor and Mrs. Herman Major

PUBLICATION COMMITTEE

Mr. & Mrs, George F. Watson Miss Mary Trim Anderson Dr. Rosalie Carter Glenn I. Johnson Mrs. Clyde Lynch

The WILLIAMSON COUNTY HISTORIAL JOURNAL is sent to all members of the Williamson County Historical Society. The annual member ship dues are $5, which includes this publication and a monthly NEWSLETTER to all members.

Correspondence concerning additional copies of the''WILLIAMSON COUNTY HISTORICAL JOURNAL should be addressed to Mrs. Clyde Lynch, Route 9, Franklin, Tennessee 37064.

Contributions to future issues of the WILLIAMSON COUNTY HISTORICAL JOURNAL should be addressed to Thomas Vance Little, Beech Grove Farm, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027,

Correspondence concerning membership and payment of dues should be addressed to Herman Major, Treasurer, P. 0. Box 71, Franklin, Tennessee 37064. 11

It is with great pleasure that we present the eighth annual

WILLIAMSON COUNTY HISTORICAL JOURNAL, 1977.

We feel that this year's JOURNAL is outstanding and one that will be treasured for years to come. It contains all of the weekly HONOR

ROLL articles which have appeared in THE REVIEW APPEAL newspaper. They give much that is of historical value to the county.

This year has been a good one for the Historical Society. We have enjoyed the interesting and informative programs Mrs. Virginia Bowman has provided: The October meeting was a covered-dish supper in the lovely home of Mr. & Mrs. A. Battle Rodes. Their daughter, Mrs. Sally

Lee, gave the history of Beechville which was most interesting and enjoyed by all of us. The food was excellent^ The tour of Thompason

Station in November included the Methodist Church, Church of Christ, and the beautiful old home of Mr, & Mrs. William J. Darby. The history of each place was interesting and historicali The Christmas party at

Beech Grove Farm, home of T. Vance Little, will certainly be long- remembered. The carolers did an excellent imitation of the caroloers as we remember them being portrayed in the "Christmas Story" by Dickins, a very beautiful and sentimental touch. The old-fashioned Christmas decorations and goodies, certainly put us all in the true Christmas spirit. February was the annual "Show and Tell" program - it seems each year brings forth many different and interesting articles.

Special thanks goes to Mrs. Battle Rodes for the historical article she read. It was a letter written by her grandmother telling of seeing and talking to Sam Davis just before he was hanged. The

March program was special for the women - Mrs. Duncan Callicott told about dolls and showed some of her most treasured antique dolls. Ill

The first Sunday in April will be the dedication of the historical

market at the Courthouse. The marker was one of our Bicentennial projects. In May this year, the Awards dinner will be held jointly with the Heritage Foundation, June will see the Society members having a covered-dish picnic at historic Devon Farm, home of Mr. and

Mrs. C. William Green.

There are many interesting plans being made for the future -

possibly a meeting during the summer months and some tours around the county. Also, we hope to be working closer with the Heritage

Foundation on some other projects.

We express our sincere thanks to the Publication Committee: Ginny and George Watson, chairmen; Louise Lynch, Glenn Johnson, Mary Trim Anderson, and Dr. Rosalie Carter, and to all who wrote these articles and furnished information for this JOURNAL. Special thanks goes to Louise Lynch for the good job she does publishing the JOURNAL each year. A thank you also goes to our hospitality committee: Linae Sinclair, chairman, Martha Fuqua, and Marie Copass. The refresh ments are always good and the fellowship great.

Annie I^i Gatlin

WILLIAMSON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

BICENTENNIAL PROJECTS

By

Lula Fain Moran Major (Mrs. Herman Major), Chairman, Bicentennial Committee

In the fall of 1975, the following were appointed to serve as the Bicentennial Committee of the Williamson County Historical Society;

Mrs. Sam Hartsfield, Miss Mary Sneed Jones, T. Vance Little, and

Mrs, Herman Major, chairman. After much discussion, sifting of ideas, and investigation, three projects were selected as recommendations to the Society, and on January 5, 1976, the members voted to accept these as their projects for the year of 1976. The projects were: (1) to prepare for microfilming by the Tennessee State Library and Archives the original marriage bonds and licenses of Williamson County from

1800 through 1850; (2) to place an historical marker at the Williamson

County Courthouse; (3) to sponsor a weekly column in a local paper that would be of historical interest to the readers.

Project no. 1 was completed April 5, 1976. The Society placed a set of the seventeen reels of microfilm of the marriage bonds in the War Memorial Public Library, Franklin, Tennessee, for public use.

Members of the committee for this project were: Mrs. Herman Major, chairman, Mrs. Joe Bowman, Mrs. Brent Cook, Mrs. Roy Donnahoe, Mrs.

William Gibbs, Mrs. Sam Hartsfield, Miss Mary Ellen Hendricks, Mrs.

Clyde Lynch, Mrs. G. R. Plummer, and Mrs. Charles Tomlinson.

When the Society voted to place a marker at the Courthouse, the preference was for it to be placed on the building, and the resolu tion was so adopted by the county court. However, when the committee V

met, the decision was made to place it in the left front corner of

the courthouse yard as no appropriate place could be found on the

building itself. Those who came to make the site selection were the following members of the Historic Sites Committee: Miss Ann Moran, chairman, Battle Rodes, and Mr. and Mrs. John Weakley Covington.

Also present were Mrs. W. C. Gatlin, president of the Williamson

County Historical Society; Mrs. Joe Bowman, County Historian and Society member; Miss Mary Sneed Jones, and Mrs. Herman Major of the

Society's Bicentennial Committee. After clearing the change of location with the County Judge, Wilburn Kelley, the marker was ordered in August 1976, and was de livered to the Williamson County Highway Department before Christmas. The marker was inspected for accuracy and was set in place March 15,

1977. The wording on the marker is:

Courthouse Williamson County's first courthouses, one log, one brick, were in the center of the square. This the third, completed in 1858 under the supervision of John W. Miller, is one of seven antebellum courthouses in Tennessee. The four iron columns were smeltered at Fernvale and cast at a Franklin foundry. It was used as Federal headquarters during the Civil War and served as a hospital after the Battle of Franklin. The interior was remodeled in 1937, 1964, and 1976. The annex was added in 1976. Erected by the Williamson County Historical Society 1976

The decision was made to confine our efforts in connection with our third project to writing biographical sketches of persons, no longer living, who had made some significant contribution to life in our county or elsewhere, and who at some period in their lives were residents of Williamson County. VI The sketches were compiled, printed in THE REVIEW APPEAL news paper under the column heading "Williamson County HONOR ROLL," and

reprinted in this issue of our journal. The members of this committee were: Miss Mary Trim Anderson, chairman, Glenn I. Johnson, T. Vance

Little, and Mrs. Herman Major. For myself, as chairman of the Bicentennial committee, for the other members of the committee, and for the membership itself, I would like to express thanks to each and every person who made a contribution of time or money, or both, for the successful completion of these three projects. It is felt that the time has been spent to good advantage, and it is hoped that the work done will be beneficial to many in the future. All three projects have been completed. VLl

WILLIAMSON COUNTY HISTORICAL JOURNAL

Number 8

Spring 1977

Contents Page

Anderson, William 1 By Janice Anderson Herbert

Andrews, Mark Lyell Locke 7 By Mary Clare Andrews Joy (Mrs. Tom Joy)

Baugh, Mrs. Johnnie Nichol 9 By Miss Mary Trim Anderson

Bell, John 13 By T. Vance Little

Benton, Thomas Hart 17 By T. Vance Little

Blackburn, Rev. Gideon 19 By Helen Sawyer Cook (Mrs. R. B. Cook)

Buchanan, Governor John Price 23 By Lula Fain Moran Major (Mrs. Herman Major)

Cannon, Governor Newton 29 By Virginia McDaniel Bowman (Mrs. Joe Bowman)

Carter, Fountain Branch 41 By Dr. Rosalie Carter

Eaton, John Henry 47 By Virginia McDadiel Bowman (Mrs. Joe Bowman)

Faw, Judge Walter W. 51 By Miss Mary Trim Anderson and Mrs. Emily Beasley Brittain

Gentry, Miss Susie 55 By Miss Chloe Yates

Hardeman, Thomas 59 By Miss Mary Sneed Jones

Haun, Andrew Jacob 53 By Miss Mary Trim Anderson viii

Page Hill, Green By T. Vance Little Johnson, Dr. Charles Claudius gg By Mary Johnson Mills (Mrs. L. L. Mills) Laws, Dr. Hiram A. -j-y By Elva Mayo Darby (Mrs. William J. Darby)

Little, Tom By Anne Beasley Johnson (Mrs. Dobson Johnson) McConnico, Garner yg By Lula Fain Moran Major (Mrs. Herman Major) McGee, Sam 22 By T. Vance Little

McMurray, Dr. William J. 87 By T. Vance Little McPhail, Daniel gg By Elva Mayo Darby (Mrs. William J. Darby) Maury, Abram Poindexter g^ By Miss Mary Trim Anderson Maury, Matthew Fontaine 97 By Miss Mary Trim Anderson

Murfree, Colonel Hardy By Elva Mayo Darby (Mrs. William J. Darby) Otey, Bishop James Hervey By Joe Baugh Perkins, Nicholas "Bigbee" jgg By Miss Mary Trim Anderson Pioneer Women in Williamson County HI Virginia McDaniel Bowman (Mrs, Joe Bowman) Poynor, Dick ^17 By Richard Warwick Sappington, Dr. John yyg By Glenn I. Johnson Sharp, Anthony ^23 By Louise Gillespie Lynch (Mrs. Clyde D. Lynch) ix Page Shropshire, Dr. Courtney 125 By Glenn I. Johnson

Smith, Thomas Benton 131 By T. Vance Little

Sparkman, Seth I33 By Miss Mary Trim Anderson

Stuart, Judge Thomas I37 By Lula Fain Moran Major (Mrs. Herman Major)

Swanson, Edward 141 By Lula Fain Moran Major (Mrs. Herman Major)

Thompson, Dr. Elijah 151 By Elva Mayo Darby (Mrs. William J. Darby)

Tohrner, Miss Ann I55 By Hazel Tohrner Posnack (Mrs. Joseph B. Posnack)

Whitfield, John Wilkins I57 By Eilene Nyhr Plummer (Mrs. G. R. Plummer)

Yarborough, Loula Anderson (Hulme) 161 By Lula Fain Moran Major (Mrs. Herman Major) WILLIAM ANDERSON

By: Janice Anderson Herbert

"Realizing that education

does not consist in the mental

development alone, we exert

every effort in our power to

draw out those qualities which

tend to the building up of the

moral character, without which

man is but a machine for evil."

This exerpt from the 1893-94

edition of the Annual announce-

■ ■ raent of Hillsborc High School at Leiper's Fork reveals an underlying statement of the life of William Anderson

(1848-1905).

For many centuries in num erous countries of the world, religious and academic teaching have been coupled, never more so than thoughout the history of our country. William Anderson was a man who devoted his life, in

a rather confined geographical area, to the building of moral charac

ter, scholastic excellence and spiritual growth in the youth over

whose lives he exercised his influence as teacher, gospel preacher

and friend. Though he spent more time working in both Maury and

Davidson counties than in Williamson, he established and superintended

the school at Leiper's Fork for approximately ten years, and fre

quently preached in Franklin and throughout the county.

He was born on October 19, 1848, in Williamson County to James Clark and Lucinda Newsom Anderson, according to Goodspeed's History

of Tennessee, 1886. James C. was a pioneer preacher of the Restora

tion movement of the Church, and during the 1840*s preached at the

present Fourth Avenue Church of Christ. He also preached effectively in Northenn Alabama and Middle Tennessee before his death, at which

time William was nine.

William began to teach at the age of 17. When he was 19 he en rolled at'Franklin College in Nashville, alternating as student and teacher. It was soon after he began to attend Franklin College that he obeyed the gospel and became a Christian, whereupon he began preaching almost immediately at his home congregation of South Har- peth. Here he preached throughout his life, including both his first and his last sermons.

During his lifetime William supervised and taught at three acade mies in this area: South Harpeth in Davidson County, Carter's Creek (also known as Beech Grove) in Maury County, and Leiper's Fork (Hills- boro) in Williamson County. He also preached widely in all three counties. roereigd L«ura Alexander^ i;he. d^ught®* of ggry Sparkman and John Campbell Alexander of Maury County, on June 30, 1875. While living at Carter's Creek and at Hillsboro, Laura often boarded students who attended the academy. Along with his teaching and preaching duties William oversaw the running of the family farm, where they lived with their four children. One receipt for tuition at the Carter's Creek Academy in 1875 was for $2.40. Other expenses included $1.50 for a Shakespeare reader, and staff and pen, 30 cents.

In 1877 at South Harpeth Academy the tuition was $20.00 per term, with an added $1.00 for incidentals,

William Anderson was a learned teacher -- the Hillsboro Annual an

nouncement lists him as the instructor in Greek, Latin, mathmatics,

mental and moral.philosophy, and sacred literature -- whose ideas on

total instruction are reflected in the Announcement; "Some possessed of good native ability often make life a failure for a want of punct uality, regularity, accuracy, industry, self-respect and courteous

bearing to others."

As the announcement stated its terms and fees for prospective

■students, noted: "Our friends will please bear in mind that we are not trying to compete with cheap schools," Students came from a

half dozen counties to study "English, the Natural Sciences, Com

mercial Forms and Common School Branches, in addition to those subjects previously mentioned. Apparently they were quite, willing to pay the $9-10 per month boarding fee in addition.to tuition charges ranging, from $10 to $22.50 per five-month term. Of. course

there was extra instruction in elocution for $15 per term and organ

or piano lessons to be had,for $25, with frequent recitals. The school catalogue pointed out the desirable aspects to be considered in sending a student to Hillsboro, such as, "The loca tion affords the greatest facilities for moral, intellectual and physical culture. Being remote from any large town, and surrounded by a moral and industrious people, it is secluded from those haunts of dissipation and vicious associations so fatal to youth in cities."

Also cited were the benefits of co-education, active literary socie ties, church facilities, availability of apparatus for scientific experiments, and an extensive geological collection. On the other hand, policy on such matters as strict attendance, parental inter ference in school routine, a no-smoking policy, and the limitation of student spending money were set forth matter-of-factly.

Such a success as a teacher was he that, in the spring of 1901, when James A, Harding resigned as superintendant of the Nashville

Bible School (now David Lipscomb College), William Anderson was selected by the Board of Trustees to take his place.

Harding is quoted: "Brother Anderson is a superior man. He is a teacher of much experience and skill, one of the best in the state.

He is a preacher of splendid ability, bold, strong and sound." The school made good progress under the supervision of William Anderson.

During his time there his oldest daughter, Effie, was the first and only female faculty member. He remained in his capacity as Superin- tendant of the Nashville Bible College until his death.

William Anderson died of a heart attack at his home on the morn ing of June 29, 1905, while talking with a friend and neighbor at his mailbox. David Lipscomb asserted: "We have never known a teacher that gained more complete influence over his pupils than did Brother

Anderson." He was known as an apt teacher, a kind disciplinarian and

4 a congenial friend who gave encouragement to his students and enjoyed the blessings of a peacemaker in his community. He is buried in the

Alexander Cemetery near Spring Hill.

J. M. McCaleb, who had been a student and boarder with the

Andersons at Beech Grove, wrote years later; "So great was his in fluence upon me at that time that my brothers accused me of talking like him. Not wishing this to be said of me, I took care to correct the error, but at the same time retained the wholesome influence im planted in my character which has become a part of myself."

By Janice Anderson Herbert, based upon research by Sarah English and Nova Anderson. MARK LYELL LOCK ANDREWS

By; Mary Clare Andrews Joy : (Mrs. Tom Joy) >,

Mark Lyell Andrews, born December 2, 1796, in Fayette County, Ken-

ri;: tucky, the first child of George and Sarah Pearson Locke Andrews, grandson of Mark Andrews of Dinwiddie County, Virginia, came to Williamson

County in the early 1800's. In 1816 he married Eliza Dean.

Throughout his lifetime he showed great compassion for humanity.

His benevolence to the ill and the bereaved was remarkable. The ministry appealed to him deelply. He was ordained a deacon in the Methodist

Episcopal Church by Bishop Soule and an elder by Bishop Roberts. His income from the ministry was not enough to support his large family; therefore he had to seek other employment.

In 1840 he was elected clerk of the Circuit Court of Williamson

County, an office to which he was re-elected for a period of forty years.

On April 4, 1863, Mark L. Andrews made this entry: "The Federal Army being in possession of the court houae, I was not able to open court."

In 1873 M. L. Andrews became sole manager of the Review and journal, a clean, high-toned, and consistent paper."

Bethesda, one of the old Methodist Churches in the county, built in

1839, listed Mark L. Andrews as one of its trustees.

The Confederacy's Company H had the names of J. L. and F, M, Andrews among its many casualties. Mark L. claimed that the Masonic ring he was wearing prevented his being shot.

John Andrews, an uncle of Mark, was one of the twenty-five pen sioners of the American Revoluation living in Williamson County in 1832.

John received a Revolutionary land grant in 1809.

7 Richard L. Andrews, a brother of Mark, was one of the ten lawyers of Franklin in 1834 according to Eastin Morris in The Tennessee Gazetteer.

Mark L, Andrews ret:i)ced at his home.tjfo miles west of Franklin on the Boyd Mill Pike. He died November 16, 1878 at the age of eight-One, having lived an exemplary life which merited the:respect, and esteem of all who .knew him. MRS. JOHNNIE NICHOL BAUGH

By: Miss Mary Trim Anderson

Can you imagine anyone's

!• « teaching past her eightieth birth Sh: day and never missing a day of

school because of personal sick

ness? Add to that astonishing

accomplishment the fact that she

always carried a full teaching ■s-«' load, assumed more than her share

of study halls and gatekeeping

chores, could usually outwork and

outlast most of the younger faculty

members, served unofficially as the

principal's trusted assistant in

keeping everyone and everything

Mrs. John Baugh straight, and then usually walked the several blocks to her home at the end of the day, . Considering all of

this, you have a most unusual lady. Such a one was Mrs. John Baugh.

Johnnie Nichol Baugh, daughter of Frank and Maggie Patterson Nichol,

was a native of Williamson County. After attending local schools, she

entered Peabody College, which, incidentally, she attended at two different

times fifty years apart.

Her teaching career had'its beginning and its end. in Franklin two blocks and over half a century apart. After beginning her teaching with

the. old Franklin Public School, she became a member of the four-teacher faculty of Franklin High School in 1912 when it was located at Five

Points and occupied, the f.our upstairs rooms of the building. Her

subjects were Latin and mathematics. However, years later after the high school had moved up the hill, it became difficult to find a librarian. Mrs. Baugh was appointed to serve as the school'ss libra rian.and again entered Peabody, this time to work toward a degree in library science. Attending on Saturdays, in the evenings and during summer vacations, she received this second degree in 1939.

Thoroughness, fairness, hard work on her part and that of her students, and strict discipline were the hallmarks of her teaching.

She was, however, more than a classroom teacher. She was an ad visor and confidante of young teachers, a friend to students, an able assistant (unofficial) to the principal, a supporter of the

PTA. In those days there was a detention hall-one hour after school-- for those who had been tardy, failed to do their work or otherwise misbehaved. The institution proved to be less than effective, some said because there was too little consistency in the way it was conducted by the various teachers who took turns with it. One year, when school began, it was announced that this difficulty was removed because Mrs. Baugh had volunteered to preside over detention hall every day - for nine months I And so she did. Then she would be back at night to sell tickets for a play or keep the gate for a ball game. One of her remarkable services to the school while this writer was her coworker in those precomputer days, was the schedule-making she did during several summers, all volunteer work, mind you. She not only worked out the sche dule of classes and assigned students to each; she also wrote out by hand an individual schedule for each student. Mrs. Baugh

10 taught past her eightieth birthday - until October 3, 1949, just one

month before her death.

Anyone who attended Franklin High School from the 1920's through the %940's can probably, in his mind's eye, see "Miss Johnnie" walking

the hall, an erect figure, her white hair neatly waved, her heels click

ing, her dress simple and becoming, her eyes and ears alert for anything or

anyone needing attention.

The question "What does the name Mrs. Johnnie Baugh, mean to you"

brought these replies from some of her former students:

"She was one I respected highly, one of the outstanding people of

the school," Margaret Murrey.

"Algebra! She was fair, always the same. If you v\7ere too dumb to get it today, she'd just start over tomorrow," Woodrow Reed. "The greatest! When I think of her, I think of the quotation 'Im portance can be arranged; greatness must be lived.' She lived it,"

Jennie Cannon West. "A great math teacher. No chewing gum. Firm discipline. I liked her very much," Mary Kate Zimmerman.

"Firm, sometimes stern - a friend of students," Shearer Irvin.

11 r , JOI^ BELL ,By: ;:t. Vance/Lit,tle, . ..^ •

The grandfather of John Bell of Williamson County, Tennessee, was Robert Bell of Caswell County, North Carolina, He was twice married, first to Catherine Walker and second to Mary Boyd. He served as a cap- tain during the Revolutionary VJar, and after that conflict migrated with his family to Sumner County, Tennessee, but later located on a grant on

the Mill Creek southeast of Nashville,

Samuel Bell was the oldest son of Robert Bell and the father of johh Bell. His wife was Margaret Edmiston, daughter of John Edmiston, . . -r/.:-. 1-. '} ; 'h'. I no > > an early settler on the Mill Creek in northeastern Williamson County, The daughters of Samuel Bell also married into prominent local families: Martha marrying James Crockett, Catherine marrying Andrew Crockett, Eliza Ann marrying Crymer McEwen, Mary marrying Littleton J, Dooly,

and Sarah marrying William W, Gaines,

John Bell was born on Mill Creek February 18, 1796, At the age of 14 he entered Cumberland College, a struggling Nashville institution under the administration of Dr, James Priestley, Bell graduated from this school in 1814, which event concluded his formal education.

In 1816 Bell formed a partnership to J. J, White in the town of

Franklin for the purpose of practicing law, A year later, when he was only 21 years of age, he was elected to represent WiHiamson County in the state Senate, His election is said to have been the result of a rousing Fourth of July oration delivered during his campaign. This was perhaps the beginning of his political career that was marked by his unusual ability as an orator, , .

13 Bell served only one session in the legislature, after which he returned to his law practice in Franklin. In addition to his legal practice. Bell engaged in land.speculation in the growing town of

Franklin. He and William Banks opened a subdivision, known as Bell

Town. On December 10, 1818, Bell married Sally Dickinson of Rutherford

County. She was a granddaughter of Colonel Hardy Mtirfree, a distin guished Revolutionary soldier. The couple moved to Murfreesboro in the early 1820's, no doubt following the move of the state capital to that town. When the capital was moved to Nashville, the Bells fol lowed, John Bell associating himself with Henry Crabb in the practice of law on the public square.

In 1826, John Bell became a candidate for the U. S. Congress, He defeated his opponent Felix Grundy, who was then in the zenith of his

Isrilliant career. He remained in Congress for 14 years. During his tenure in Congress, Bell took issue with Andrew Jackson over the re moval of bank deposits from the United States Bank^ and as a result of this position he left the Democratic Party. In 1834 he defeated James

K. Polk for the speakership of the House. He was also for ten years chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, during which time the

Cherokees were removed from their ancestral lands.

In 1841 Bell became Secretary of War under President Harrison.

He, however, resigned this position within the year.

Bell remained in political retirement until 1847 when he was elected to the State Senate. During the same year he was chosen to the United States Seriate. He was re-elected to that body in 1853.

During his terms in the Senate he was at the height of his political career and delivered many able and significant speeches. His speech

14 of the war with Mexico was declared by John C. Calhoun to be the ablest ever delivered upon that subject.

Bell was chosen by the Constitutional Union Party in 1860 as its candidate for President of the United States. His running mate was Edward Everett, and his opponent was Abraham Lincoln. The Con-

\ stitutional Union candidate received the electoral votes of three states, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Bell strenuously opposed secession from the Union until the call for troops by Lincoln. After that call he took the position that no ordinance was necessary to enable a state to declare itself an inde pendent sovereign unit. During the War between the States, he took no active part in either political or military affairs. He and his family lived in several places in an effort to avoid Union occupation forces.

After the War Bell returned to Tennessee and took up residence on his property in Stewart County, where he began to rebuild his mill and to reopen his mines. In his plain but substantial brick house overlooking the Cumberland River he died September lo, 1869. His body was returned to Nashville where it lay in state in the Capitol prior to burial in Mt. Olivet Cemetery.

15 / -V;' i:-, ,;r- .VryVHi •. .

THOMAS HART BENTON

By: T. Vance Little

Thenias Hart'Beiitdn, the famous Missouri Senator, spent 15 of his most formative- years as a resident of Williamson County, It was here

' that he was- Admifcthd to practice law and elected to his first political

•• office,- -••

Thumas Hatt Behton was botn March 14, 1782, in Hillsboro, North

Carolina. His-patents wete Jesse and Ann Gooch Benton, His father, ! ' himself a lawyer, died in 1791, leaving his widow with eight small

children. Before his death, the elder Benton had been involved in land speculation in Middle Tennessee, It was to a 2,5pfi-acre tract on Leipers

Fork that Mrs, Benton brought her eight children in 1800, The Bentons

settled at Hillsboro, which was named for the town in North Carolina from

which they had come.

Educated at the University of North Carolina, Thomas Hart Benton taught school for a while in Maury County, In 1804 he began to study

law and became a member of the Franklin Bar in 1806, His law office was in Franklin and his name appears on more law suits than that of any other

early Franklin lawyer,

Benton's p-olitical career began in 1809 when he was elected to the

Tennessee General Assembly, He sponsored a number of bills, one calling for judicial reform, which resulted in establishing the circuit system in Tennessee, He also sponsored a bill providing slaves the right to a

trial by jury,

Benton was instrumental in persuading Andrew Jackson to raise an

army and participate in the War■ '-i of' 1812, He himself commanded a '

17' regiment of men, and after the War he was sent to Washington by Jackson

to investigate the soldier's pay which; was being held up.

Later Jackson and.Benton became at odds with each other as a result

of a dispute between Jackson and Benton's brother, Jesse. The feud re-

suited in ah altercation between the Benton brothers and. Andrew Jackson

. . • ■ ■ Vji i - -r, ,• r ■ • ;r|- : • t l.rv ' arid his friend William B. Carroll on the Town Square in Nashville. ' 'Jackson was sfiot iri.the left shoulder by Jesse Benton.

In 1815 Thomas Hart Benton moved to Missouri where he was elected to the tJ. S. Senate. He served iri that body some 30 years. He used

his enormous influence to suiiport the Pony Express, the telegraph system,

... 1 . I ' ' t'i highways to the interior, a transcontinental railroad and a sound cur-

' ! ■ I • "i . i • . • . 1 i • » rericy system. Above all else Benton stood for preservation of the Union

• . • s . and violently opposed the Seccessionists.

■

. ' r- • ■ <.

18 L REV. GIDEON BLACKBURN

By: Relen Sawyers Cook (Mrs. R. B, Coojk) r

Throughout Middle Tennessee, probably no other one person con tributed more toward the establishment of the Presbyterian church or instilled higher principles in the youth of the land than did Gideon

Blackburn. Born in Augusta County, Virginia, on August 27, 1772, he was the son of Robert Blackburn and Sarah Ritchie. Other children were Edward, born 1775, then Sarah, Leah,, Rachel, Samuel, Jane, Mary, Elizabeth, and William. His grandfather was Benjamin Blackburn.

Records show that the Blackburn and the Washington families were friends of long standing, and the two families intermarried several times.

On October 3, 1793, Gideon married a first coursin, Grizzelle

Blackburn, the sixth child of John and Jane Blackburn. Their marriage lasted sixty-nine years, or until she died in 18^2. They were the parents of seven sons and three daughters.

The Blackburns were a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian family," so it was in this atmosphere that Gideon was reared. While yet a young man, he was appointed by the federal government to the office of "Superinten dent of Schools in the Indian Nation," and was appointed by the Presbyterian church as a missionary to the Cherokee Indians along the

Little Tenasee River. In ISOiS, Daniel Ross, father of Chief John Ross, turned over to the

Reverend Blackburn a school which he had founded at the then future site of the "Brainerd Mission." Blackburn converted it into a mission school called "The Mission on the Chickamauga in the Cherokeie Nation." Today, an outlying suburb of Chattanooga still bears the name Brainerd.

' 19 Blackburn found life and work among the Indians fascinating. During that time when the Indians were being trickeii and deceived by the white

men, Blackburn's kind and tactful manner averted many anticipated up risings. Often he went the second mile to prove his love and sincerity for the Indians, and in so doing he impaired his own health. It was probably for this reason that he gave up his missionary work in 1810 and moved to Maury County, Tennessee, where he organized a church at

Columbia.

Blackburn was keenly Interested in education as well as in religion.

We can understand this when we learn that he had been trained under the great pioneer preacher and teacher, Samuel Doak. The first schools were usually taught by clergymen, and Doah had founded one of the first schools in Tennessee - Martin Academy, later renamed Washington College.

Blackburn was not only a student there but, we think, an instructor as well.

In 1811 he moved his family to Franklin and lived in a log house.

This house, now weather-boarded, is still standing at 217 Fourth Avenue,

North, Miss Mary Davis and her sister, Miss Fannie Lou Davis, proud of their Presbyterian heritage, have Ipyed it and lived in it for many years.

The Rev. Blackburn came to Franklin at a propitious time. Harpeth

Academy was newly established, but there was a shortgage of teachers; in fact, the school could not open for lack of one. Blackburn stepped im- ^^ediately into this position which he held for twelve years, along with

Bishop Harvey Otey, a noted Episcopalian minister. Blackburn became the first headmaster of the school, which was located on Del Rio Pike.

It is recorded that "he was a successful disciplinarian aiid governor of youth; a logical thinker and a forceful speaker." He taught during

"20 the week and preached on the weekends. A busy mani He had five preach ing points within a 50 mile radius.

On June 8, 1811, he organized the Franklin Presbyterian church, with

46 members. On that same day, four elders were ordained: Alexander White,

Samuel Moore, E. Hamilton, and Robert Harris. On September 15, 1811, the

Lord's Supper was administered, and fifteen new members were added to the. roll. Among these we find the name of Ewen Cameron, prominent in early

Franklin history, and "Molly", a slave of Capt. Dabney.

Records of the early history of the church, in Dr. Blackburn's own handwriting, may be seen at the Presbyterian Historical Foundation at

Montreat, North Carolina. Here also are preserved small round pieces of' iron called tokens, required of all communicants. By 1813, a brick

"meeting house", with a gallery across the front, was erected on a lot now a part of the Old Cemetery, where sleep many of the. first faithfuil members of the church.

In 1811 Dr. Blackburn organized the Harpeth Presbyterian church about eight miles south of Nashville. A log cabin housed it until 1836,

The ground is part of a Revolutionary War Land grant and was donated by the five McCutcheson brothers: Samuel, Patrick, Robert, Blames and

Washington. Today this church and its grounds attest to the loving care of its members - a fitting tribute to its founder.

When the War of 1812 broke out, Harpeth Academy, with an enroll ment of about 80 pupils, disbanded, and Dr. Blackburn and most of the students marched and fought with Andrew Jackson at New Orleans.

In 1814, he organized the First Presbyterian church in Nashville along with six women and one man. He preached there until he accepted a call to Louisville, Kentucky. On the resignation of Dr. Blackburn his son. Rev. J. N. Blackburn, had charge of the church for a number of years. 21 In 1827, Gideon Blackburn became president of Centre College at Danville, Kentucky. Blackburn University at Carlinville, Illinois, bears his name. Here he died on August 23, 1838, and,both he and his

wife are buried there. .. . . One of his pupils in later years spoke of,Dr,^ Blackburn's striking appearance, and yet he was a very modest,man. Only one portrait of him exists today, and that was secured through trickery - a fact,which greatly angered Dr. Blackburnv . He held that having one's likeness made is contrary•'to the , Second Commandpent.-, • He was a familiar and much loved citizen of Franklin for many years never complaining of his own illnesses or troubles, but always, contribut ing to the welfare of others. His chief, worry was an afflicted limb, said to have been injured while he worked .apong the Indians. Much of his preaching was- done while sitting down, with the painful, swollen leg

resting on a cushion. ... ' . Surely this man made an outstanding .contribution to both education and religion during the early days of Williamson County.

22 GOVERNOR JOHN PRICE BUCHANAN

By: Lola Fain Moran Major (Mrs, Herman Major)

^ Two governors of Tennessee have called

Williamson County home. The first was ^ewton

Kf Cannon who was born in North Carolina but who

^r-i- . r'V.v,£-V- ■■' grew up in Williamson County and was elected the

state's tenth governor from here; the other was

John Price Buchanan who was born in this county

and grew to manhood here but who was liying in

Covenor Rutherford County when he became Tennessee's John Price Buchanan ' twenty-eighth governor. It is of Governor

Buchanan that we write.

John Price Buchanan was the son of Thomas and Rebecca Jane (Shannon)

Buchanan who married in this county on November 5, 1846. He was born on

October 24, 1847 on the family farm on Liberty Road. He was the grandson of John Buchanan III and Margaret Sample Buchanan, and the greait grandson of Major John Buchanan who built Buchanan Fort on Mill Creek in Davidson

County about 1783 and of his first wife, Margaret Kennedy. It was be cause of a gift of 600 acres of land from Major Buchanan of Davidson

County to his son, John III, in 1815 that the latter came to live in this county, whereas his half brothers and sisters lived on lands given them in Davidson and Rutherford Counties.

The future,governor was educated in the schools.of his area, and late in 1864, as a young man of seventeen, he enlisted in the Confederate army as a private in Roddy's escort which was attached to the 4th Alabama

23 Cavalry and assigned to Forrest's command. He served until the

surrender of the command at Pond Spring, Alabama in May, 1865.

Two years following the Civil War on his twentieth birthday,

October 24, 1867, he married Frances McGill, daughter of James and

Amanda (Norman) McGill of Rutherford County. Six years later, in

1873, they built a two-story frame house on part of the McGill

property which was about eight miles southeast of Murfreesboro on

the Manchester turnpike. On this acreage which they named "The

Big Creek Stock Farm" John Price Buchanan farmed and raised stock.

Farmers in the years following the Civil War saw difficult times. It was hard to obtain credit and farm prices were very low.

The agricultural South and West suffered from national legisla tion which was directed toward helping the industrial East. It was out of this situation that the Farmers' Alliance was born.

The movement spread rapidly in Tennessee which was a. predominantly agricultural state, and John P. Buchanan who helped organize the

Farmers' Alliance of Tennessee became an active member and the first president of the Alliance in 188.8.

He served as a delegate to the State Democratic Convention from 1876<*1890, and from 1887-1891 he represented Rutherford County in the state legislature where he worked diligently to promote legislation that would benefit farmers. When the State Democratic

Convention convened on July 15, 1890, John E, Richardson.of Ruther ford County placed as a nominee for governor the name of John P>.:

Buchanan, "a name encircled with victory and a Democrat of .the old

f. school principles." As Miss Rebecca Buchanan in later years re.r- called the night her father came home victorious from, that week long convention, she said that a crowd of happy friends and '■ ".Vi-

■ • 'S ■. ti; . 1 ' ^ 24''^ , • "1 . u;i c neighbors, shouting and blowing horns, traveled up the hill to the two- story frame house of her parents. Although very tired, from the long convention hours, he appeared on the upstairs porch and in-."a few simple words" thanked all there for their support.

Backed by the Farmers' Alliance which had dominated the convention of 1890, Buchanan defeated the nominees of the Prohibition, and the Re publican parties to be elected as the twenty-eighth governor of

Tennessee.

Mrs. Buchanan and their children accompanied their husband and father to Nashville for the inauguration on January 19, 1891, and took a suite at the old Maxwell House Hotel. The outgoing governor. Bob

Taylor, as Miss Rebecca Buchanan recalled, introduced the new governor and in doing so referred to him as the !'hayse.eder who was to succeed him."

During the two years of the Buchanan administration his family continued to live in Rutherford County. His sister. Miss Jennie

Thomas Buchanan, resigned from her teaching position at Ward's Semi nary to become private secretary to her brother.

The areas in which Buchanan was especially interested while governor were in the field of agriculture and education. In.hi.s major message to the state legislature he placed more emphasis on education than any other subject. It was during his administration that the public schools were classified into Primary and Secondary schools. For the first time also the study of Tennessee History in each classification was made mandatory. Vocal music and elocution were to be required in the Primary grades, while in the Secondary Schools Geology of Tennessee,

Elementary Agriculture, hygiene, and the art of public speaking became a requirement. "This was indeed an 'enriched curricula' as compared to all previous instructional requi't^ments."

25 At the State Democratic Conventiori in 1892 Buchanan failed to be renominated. This was due mainly to (1) his close affiliation with the Farmers' Alliance which had merged with the Populist Party, a movement which alarmed staunch Democrats, and (2) repeated riots among the coal miners in East Tennessee because of the use of con victs in working the mines. Failing to receive the Democratic nomination, he ran as an Independent but was defeated by Peter

Turney.

The close of Gov. Buchanan's term of office in January, 1891 ended his political activities except for one public appearance when he appealed for the renomination of Gov, Austin Peay. He retired to the peace and enjoyment of his farm where he remained until the last few years of his life when he moved to Murfreesboro, He died May 14,

1930 and lies buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Murfreesboro.

He was an Elder in the Mt. Tabor Cumberland Presbyterian Church and a member of the Free and Accepted Masons.

A portrait of Gov. Buchanan now hangs in the Rutherford County

Courthouse. Upon its. presentation July 4, 1975 by the Rutherford

County Historical Association, Governor Buchanan's grandson, Dr.

Robert N. Buchanan, Jr. of Nashville, ended his remarks with these words - "Governor Buchanan believed in the democratic process. He did not regard himself as any super intellect or any super man. He did believe that the people, through the use of the democratic pro cess, could do what Was necessary and meet the challenges of the day.

Throughout his life, as a rebel soldier, as- a farmer, as a man active in farm organizations, as a member of the state legislature, as Chief

Magistrate of the State, as the father of eight children, as a churchman, and as a citizen, he gave his whole-hearted support to the

■ ■ ' " 26 causes he thought just and right. He was a resolute man of firm conviction. Some call this trait hard headedness. One always knew where he stood on all issues. He may not have been always right but he was always honest. It is entirely appropriate that Rutherford County acknowledge her citizens who had the chance to be leaders and who met the challenges."

27 GOVERNOR NEWTON CANNON

By: Virginia McDaniel Bowman (Mrso Joe Bowman)

When Minos Cannon left Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina, for the "new West" his heart was beating with, high hopies, for he had heard much of the wonderful country and had a mind to settle there. For safety's sake a large company of armed men and their families. we.re making the treacherous journey together, but Mr. Cannon cast an anxious glance toward his wife' riding horse back with baby Clement in her .arms and Newt.on, lit tie more- than a, toddler, behind her clinging to her. waist. , - Only pack animals and saddle horses were used for the trip over narrow paths hacked through dense forests. Travel- ind with the Cannons wa.s. the It- family of Daniel and Martha

1 M Hickman Hill who also settled _ y in Williamson County. Both Minos Cannon and Daniel Hill 1 were veterans of the Revolu vr-* tionary War. i4! Minos Cannon met with disappointment.when arrived- at Ft. Nashboro. Indian raids of deadly intensity were so frequent he could scarcely clear enough land., to . plant a small crop, and once it was planted their depredations Governor Newton Cannon prevented its harvesting. paily his friends were;. massacred . in the most hideous fashion and game was procured at the risk of life. To remain at Ft. Nashboro" invited almost certain death; to hazard the journey

. . 29 ■ ' ■ - • back home offered little more hope, but that choice seemed the lesser of the evils. They did not return to the Cumberland settlement until

1790.

On the second trip to Tennessee the family profited by their first venture along the dark wilderness trails, thus perhaps unwittingly ful filling the. motto on the Cannon coat-of-arms; "More, steady because better equipped." ^ ■

Minos Cannon (1756-1829), born in Maryland, was living in Guilford

County, .North CaroHna, when he married Letitia Thompson (1754-1832) there about 1780. Their home was near the battleground of Giiilfofd

Courthouse, where, after that battle on March 15, 1781, Letitia Cannon with much toil and sacrifice waited on the wounded soldiers, even though her son Newton was only eleven weeks old.

About 1798 or soon thereafter the safety of Ft, Nashboro was again abandoned by Minos Cannon when he moved his family to his sizeable hold ings "southeast of Nelsonville." His old log home, three miles south east of Triune, was still standing in 1909 but has been gone many years.

Nelsonville started in the late 1790's as a dream of Major John

Nelson who had received a large military grant in that area. The town was laid out in lots of 72 square poles to be sold with deed restric tions in a method not unlike today. Early deeds show that, a number of the lots were sold and it was hoped the town would be selected for the county seat when Williamson came into being in 1799. However, for some reason the village did not succeed and in the fall of 1901 Major

Nelson sold to Newton Cannon some 79-1/2 acres "known as the plan of . the town of Nelsonville."

Thus the streets of Nelsonville, which should have known the rumble of carriages and the whir of buggy wheels, dissolved instead

30 into rows plowed by yokes of oxen and teams of mules in Newton Cannon's

fields. The purchase also was the first step in what was to become one

of the consuming interests in Cannon's life - the acquisition of land.

Newton Cannon, born May 22, 1781, was.denied a prolonged formal edu

cation by the exigencies of frontier life. Forced at an.early age to

become the architect of his own fortune, he set about to le.arn the saddler's

trade under Jo Thompson af Franklin. Later, while working as a clerk

and merchant in Davidson County, he mastered the art of surveying in his

few leisure hours and at one time considered making it his life's work.

But surveying in pioneer days was a hard, lonely job. Dragging

chains through dense undergrowth, supplying his own food, and charting

untracked wilderness areas taxed physical and mental abilities of the

surveyor to the' limit of endurance. Many nights found him cut off from civilization with no protection from the elements but his saddle blanket j

and overcoat and with no sound to break the stillness but the soughing

of wind in the treetops and the, whine of buffalo gnats. The sting of

the gnats brought more discomfort to both man and beast than the most

violent storms.

After studying law a fascination with politics caused Newton Cannon

to lay aside all earlier plans. By the time he reached the age of thirty

the mold into which his life was to be.cast was set. His political

career began in 1811 when he was elected to the Senate of the Ninth

Tennessee General'Assembly.

Quite early in his professional life Newton Cannon ran afoul of

Andrew Jackson, a formidable opponent ron any field. While Jackson

never forgot a iiEfiend, he never forgave, an enemy. He and Cannon were jr ' .. . antagonists throughout their lives both personally and politically,

and their paths never'crossed without unpleasantness. Doubtless their

31 difficulties originated in a courtroom or at the racetrack where they were frequent rivals. Cannon was a friend and kinsman of

Captain Joseph Erwin, who often backed him at Clover Bottom races.

Captain Erwin was the father-in-law of Charles Dickinson whom

Jackson killed in a duel." In 1811 the highly touted contest between

Jackson's Doublehead and Cannon's Expectation was held at Clover

Bottom. After Doublehead's victory Jackson collected a $5,000 bet from Cannon which set the younger man back considerably. Accusing words and acrimonious letters were exchanged by the two men and their backers, with the result that a number of lifelong friends became bitter foes.

On August 27, 1813, Newton Cannon married Leah Pryor Perkins-, the sixteen year old daughter of William and Margaret (Perkins)

Perkins of Davidson County. About this time the Creek Indians Were on the warpath, and finally a war against them was precipitated by the massacre of many whites at Ft. Mims. Newton Cannon captained a troop of men who voluntarily equipped and mounted themselves and offered their services in the Creek War for three months - from

September 24th to December 28th.

} The Company proceeded to a rendezvous with Coffee's Brigade in General Jackson's army. Soon after their arrival Captain Cannon was elected colonel of the Tennessee Mounted Rifles. This displeased

General Jackson, who thereafter chose to ignore Colonel Cannon's ■ signal service at Talladega and Tallashatchie in all of his reports.

After the Indians were quelled and the Tennesseans' voluntary service time was ended Jackson refused to let the men go home. They were without any winter clothes, their horses were jaded, and rations were poor and scarce. Tempers reached a white-hot pitch, and the

■32 affair proved to. b.e.- of,su.ch moment it returned to haunt Newton Cannon

as long as he lived.

Accounts.-of the "revolt" of Coffee's Brigade written in subsequent

biographies of. Andrew Jackson do not reflect a true history of events.

Colonel Cannon often spoke on t.he subject, trying to resolve the diffi

culties brought about when Jackson as commanding general tried to force

into service, after their term was up, men who volunteered for three

months. John Coffee.also explained the facts after dispersions were cast on the honor of courageous men. They were never ordered into service by

any governor or general, he reiterated, but had volunteered and equipped

themselves for a limited service.

Twenty-five years later, when Newton Cannon was governor, payment of

Tennesseans' who had participated in the Seminole War became an issue. When cpmpensation to them was not forthcoming. Cannon, remembering the

bitterness of the Creek War,.paid the men out of his own pocket.

From 1811 through 1831 much of Newton Cannon's time was spent in either the Tennessee Legislature or the Congress. He was prevented from serving in some isessions by the serious illness of his young wife. Leah Cannon died,at .the age of eighteen on July 27, 1816. According to dates on the tombstones, her grave was the first one in the family cemetery. While a widower, Newton Cannon was invited by his fellow Congressman, Montfort Stokes, tq visit his home in Wilkes County, North Carolina, where Mr. Stokes promised bpth pretty daughters and nieces to cheer him.

The Stokes plantatipn on the Yadkin River joined that of General James Wellburn. Mr. Stokes, later governor of North Carolina, and General Wellburn had married sisters, the daughters of Colonel Hugh Montgomery, an officer in the Revolutionary War; their mother before her marriage

33 was Lady Katharine Sloan Moore. Rebecca Montgomery was James

Wellburn's second wife, ' ■ ' : ■

As Cannon and Stokes waited while their horses drank in the

Yadkin, they heard voices and glanced up to see Rachel Starnes

Wellburn and her sisters strolling along the river bank.. Delighted at being able to keep his word about the pretty girls, Mr. Stokes called to them and introduced his guest. After a brief conversation the young ladies continued on their way, unaware that.Newton Cannon's eyes followed Rachel and that in a passing moment her fate had been

sealed for life. They were married- on August 26, 1818, after.which the new Mrs, Cannon came to' her husband's "Harpeth Home" in William son County,

Rachel Cannon became the mother of two sons and seven ..daughters,

Rebecca Cannon Bbstick, one of these daughters, became the mistress

of Everbright, the beautiful ante-bellum mansion in Franklin, -and to

her posterity is indebted for much of the personal information on

her father written in the form of a memoir, a copy of which is pre-

ser-ved'in the Tennessee Library and Archives Building in Nashville,

Mrs. Bostick recalled her childhood at Triune in the big log

house and the frequent absences of her father when he was away on

long campaigns. On his return when he rode into view the children,

"their tongues proclaiming to Mama that Papa was coming,!' would run

down the hill to meet him and would ride triumphantly to the house -

two clinging behind his saddle and the least one in his arms. Amid

confusion and joy traveling blankets and portmanteaus- wex.e taken off

the pack horse and were stored in the garret until they were, needed

again, • . '

34 In 1819, between terms in Congress, Newton Cannon was appointed

one of two commissioners by President James Monroe to negotiate a treaty

with the Chickasaws. In 1827, after waging an unsuccessful campaign

for governor against Sam Houston, he turned his attention to his.plan-

.tation at Triune and affairs in the neighborhood. He.was dedicated to

the advancement of education, especially for girls who at, that time were

frequently denied schooling for lack of facilities. In 1828 Mr. Cannon

gave the land for the Harpeth Union Female Academy which stood along

side the pike between Hardeman Cross Roads (Triune) and Forks of the

Road (Kirkland). Later, when he was governor, the Tennessee Legis

lature adopted a bill for common schools, the forerunner of today's

public education.

In 1834 Newton Cannon attended the Convention which revised the

Constitution of Tennessee. In 1835 he became the first Whig governor

of the state, an office he held until 1837 and from 1837 until 1839.

A campaign against James K. Polk for a third term was unsuccessful.

Cannon was not at his best as a stump speaker. While he was an honest,

serious, and articulate orator, he was not by nature a demonstrative

speaker nor was he witty. Crowds at political gatherings of that day

came to be entertained as well as informed on issues.. They loved

ribald jokes and funny stories which they did not get from Cannon, for

those who hqard him said that nobody laughed when he was speaking. Of

paramount importance in his last campaign was the fact that Andrew

Jackson's powerful hand was always against him and never more so than

in 1839 when he had just retired from the presidency and had determined

to bring the governorship of Tennessee back into the Democratic fold.

After his defeat Governor Cannon did not seek another political

office. He retired to his hospitable home in Nashville where he enjoyed

35 the society of the groat and near-great around his table and fire

side. Among the many notables entertained by his wife and daughters

were Major Daniel Graham, Comptroller of the State; Luke Lea, a

former Secretary of State who became an eminent lawyer and judge in

Mississippi; Hariry R. W. Hill, the "merchant prince" from Williamson

County who later moved to New Orleans; Dr. Boyd McNairy, their loved

family physician; and Major William Ledbetter, a brother-in-'law and

president of the State Bank.

On a fall day in 1841 on the eve of his departure to West Ten

nessee on a business trip, Governor Cannon was taken critically ill.

A Nashville newspaper informed its readers that "the stroke of disease

and the active course of treatment to which he was subjected....made

rapid inroads upon his athletic frame so recently in the vigor of

health." Governor Canaon died on Thursday, September 16th of "the

mysterious disease, v?hich in the dispensation of Divine Providence,

'suddenly attacked this excellent citisen and distinguished public

servant (and) terminated his existence at 7 o'clock P.M..,."

'Governor Cannon was buried v;ith Masonic honors in the family

burying ground at his "Harpeth Home" near Triune. In i.magination

we can envision the great crowd of dignitaries that gathered in the cemetery back of his tall log house for his funeral that September

day. Carriages and saddle horses must have oi'erflowed the sloping lavm as his peers and many relatives came to do him honor. While he

was a man of stern integrity, the simplicity of his lifestyle, main tained in spite of his achievements, earned for him the love and confidenceC'Of friends nationwide.

When he died at the age of sixty. Governor Cannon'd older child ren were grown and married while the youngest child vjas still a baby,

36 wife,. Leah Perkins Cannon, who died when she was: little more than a girl, bore him two children - Leah America.and William Perkins who was named for her.father. This brother and sister, married their cousins, also brother and sister, Susan Agatha Perkins and Thomas Fearn Perkins,,.whose father was Samuel Perkins, Sr. of Triune. their marriages, both young couples moved to the community later known as Burwood where they lived on farms given to them by,Samuel

Perkins-. ■ The second wife,.Rachel Wellburn Cannon, had two fine sons to die in the Confederate army - Newton, Jr., captain of a Texas troop in 1861, James in 1863. A daughter, Narcissa (Nancy) Wellburn, died young un married. Of the other daughters. Rebecca L. married Richard Whitman Hyde Bostick of Triune in 1841; Ann L., Benjamin W. McCullock;.Mary Macon was named for Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina, a bachelor friend . 9f Newton Cannon's in Congress. . She married William P. Bryan c. 1843 and died in 184?. Rachel Adeline married• Major Lewis Meredith Maney of."Oaklands" in Murfreeoboro in 1846; Lavinia T., Micajah.G. L. Claiborne in 1840; Mariah Graham, John D. Horton. Because he died intestate Newton Cannon's immense estate was settled xn Chancery Court in Williamson County. . Thomas Washington, a prominent Nashville lawyer, was appointed guardian, of the five minor children, a post later filled by their mother. -There were nearly 4,500 acres in Mississippi and Shelby County to be partitioned among the.;heirs, plus the 1,066 acre .plantation at Triune. There was also land in Rutherford, Davidson, and Fayette Counties, the grist and saw mill,- -known as the Wilson Mills, on -the Harpeth at Triune, and various lots in Columbia, Jackson, ShelbyviTle, and Nashville.. Scattered over these-holdings were 137 slaves. Mrs, Cannon's dower was one-third of the-;estate.

3.7- ■ In 1848 Mrs. Rachel S. Cannon bought the white-columned brick house on Main Cross (Third Avenue) and Bridge Streets in Franklin.

It was known as the iCochrane house until 1946 when it was bought by Mrs, Elizabeth DeBrohun for a convalescent home. In the 1850 census Mrs, Cannon was living in Franklin with her ten year old daughter, Mafiah Graham, and four year old Macon Bryan, evidently a grandson.

Mrs. Cannon sold the Franklin home in 1856 and was living in

Nashville in 1866 when she deeded the remaining 311 acres of her dower lands at Triune to' lier c'hildren. In that settlement she made no distinction between her own children and her two step-children who never'knew any mother but her. "In consideration of the natural love and affection she has and bears to her children" the deed read.

Rachel Cannon, endowed with both beauty and intellect, presided as First Lady of Tennessee with a grace and charm that proved a per fect foil for her husband's rather austere candor. Particularly fond of fine furniture, she always surrounded herself with tasteful fur nishings, using to good advantage all the personal touches that make a house a gracious home whether it be a log cabin or a brick mansion.

Many sorrows were her's - the death of her husband, the loss of sons and daughters in their splendid youth, the disruptions of life by shifting fortunes and the fear and uncertainty of living in a city occupied by enemy forces during civil war. Mt. Olivet records list

'tiie death of Mrs. Rachel Cannon on April 3, 1867, aged 72.

The Newton Cannon house, built of yellow poplar logs strongly notched and pinned with stout wooden pegs, still stands between Triune and Kirkland. The back part has been replaced with a frame addi tion, btit the two-stor'y front is original. 'Wh'en the exterior was

38 weatherboarded years ago handmade nails were used, A large brick

smokehouse has been torn away, but the stone springhouse still stands over the same spring the Cannons used. The family burial ground, a stone's throw from the back door, is enclosed by a fence of dressed rocks of massive proportions. All members of the family were buried north and south because as a surveyor Newton Cannon believed in burying the way the compass pointed.

In 1870 the Cannon homeplace was owned by Thomas H. Roberts and

William W. Crockett when Richard J. Taliafero executed a bond with them for its purchase. In 1907 when it was conveyed to John Arch Taliafero

"the graveyard known as the Governor Newton Cannon graveyard" was ex cluded in the transfer.

The place, later bought by Richard Kelley Taliafero, is today owned by Mary Spann Taliafero. Unfortunately, a state marker, erected at

Taliafero Road on Nolensville Pike to honor Governor Cannon and point the way to him home, disappeared in 1975. The house and its environs remain one of the major landmarks in Williamson County.

39 FOUNTAIN BRANCH CARTER

By; Dr. Rosalie Carter

Fountain Branch Carter,

builder of the old Carter House

at Franklin, Tennessee, was born

in 1797, the last year of

George Washington's administra ■ tion. When he was a lad nine

'm rr« ■ wM. years old, his parents, Francis m,

Wa WM. Watkins and Sarah Holcomb ■ ■ (Anderson) Carter, and their

■ ■ ■ mm m m

■

Mary Ai A.; Carter four small children migrated from Halifax County, Virginia, to Williamson County, Tennessee.

Fountain's mother brought with her a sampler she had made in

1787 when she was twelve.

Fountain brought his most Fountain Branch Carter 41 cherished possession, his squirrel rifle, which measured 59 inches overall, having a stock made of; tiger;maple and metal parts stamped

"London." Once he had shot three.wild turkeys with one shot as they ate corn from a hollowed out log. Fountain's one-year-old brother, John Cunningham Carter, rode on the pommel of his father's saddle,through mountain passes and primeval forests.

Francis Watkins Carter settled about nine miles from the thriv ing village of Franklin in what is known as Waddell Hollow, not far from the much-traveled Ratchez Trace about 1806. He made a clearing near a small stream and built for his family not a log cabin but a substantial two-stpry log house, having windows and sturdy chimneys made of native stone^ A few years ago this house, now about 170 years old, was lovingly restored by Mr. and Mrs. L. E. Nordholt.

On a hillside may still be seen a simple tombstone bearing the name of Sarah Holcomb Anderson Carter who died in 1826.

It was here that Fountain Branch Carter grew to manhood. The first money he ever earned was from the sale of a hogshead of tobacco which he and his brother John C. had grown and which they are said to have rolled all the way to Nashville to market. The first land he owned was a tract on Indian Creek which joined his father's land and that of Rev. John Atkinson, a Baptist minister who had migrated to Tennessee in 1811 from Halifax County, Virginia'.

On June 29, 1823, when he was 26, and' she-was 17, Fountain

Branch Carter and lovely Mary Armistead Atkihson Were married. The ceremony was performed by her grandfather,-liev, -John Atkinson, and even in the Court House record she was called by her pet name,

"Polly." Their first home was a small brick house which stood at the corner of Church and College Streets (now Fourth Avenue), and here their son, Moscow Branch Carter, the writer's grandfather, was

born on December 5, 1825.

In October, 1829, Fountain and Mary purchased 19A located on the

west side of the Columbia Turnpike. Although it adjoined the corporate

limits of Franklin, it was considered in the country. The land had been a part of the large Revolutionary War grant to Maj. Anthony 'Sharpe and was purchased from Maj. Sharpe's daughter, Ann (Nancy), who had married Angus McPhail. Here in 1830 Fountain Branch Carter built the substantial brick house for his growing family still known today as the Carter House, for as the years passed it sheltered three genera tions of this Carter family. ' '' '

John Riser, who prepared the report on the Carter House for the Historic American Buildings Survey, compiled by the U, S. Department of the Interior, recently wrote of the Carter House; "it is' a superb piece of architecture. It has more fine design than many more elaborate structures. The architect had a very sophisticated touch in using classical proportions. The Greek revival windows are treated like the facades of little classical temples." The parapet end-walls rise three feet above the roof which vjas originally covered with handhewn shingles. The twelve-pane windows of hand-poured wavy glass are flanked by Doric columns, repeating the design of the beautiful double front door. The semi-elliptical fan-light and side-lights are also of hand-poured glass. The front steps are of dressed limestone, and over the door there once grew a pink "Kentucky Belle" rose. The vjalls of the house are three brick thick, made from clay dug out of the cellar. The broad axe with which the supporting timbers were hewn may still be seen at'tlie Carter

House. Here master craftsmen of long ago left their architectural autographs.

43 Fountain and Mary Carter, became the-parents of twelve .chil,dren,

eight of whom reached maturity. In 1852 .when she was only forty-six

• years of age, Mary Carter died, and Fountain became- both, mother and

father to his younger children,, all of-whom were baptized in the

Presbyterian Church. In 1841 he was- on .the committee to supervise

' the building of -the second house of worship of this chur.ch located

at Five -Points, where the fourlih house .of worship is still located.

His family Bible is still preserved. ..He was always concerned with

the welfare of his children and sent, them to the best schools,, in-

eluding the Franklin Female Institute and famous .Harpeth Academy.

Fountain was an industrious man and through the years he en

gaged in many business enterprises. He was a merchant, county

surveyor, farmer, and:operator of a cotton-gin. He bought and .sold

numberous farm lands and-city lots. The records show,that by 185,0

his real estate Was valued at $17,000.00. By .1860 hisrreal estate

was valued at $17,000.00.and;hi&3personal estate at $25,000.00.

At the time of his death in 1871 he owned a,total of 288A, which

extended more than a mile southxvard on the Columbia Pike, in addi

tion 'to certain "hill lands", and. city lots i -i-He owned a rock quarry

on the east slope of Merrill Hill or Privet Knob, left "to his heirs

forever." In addition to major bequests he mentioned his,family

Bible, his violin, which, it is said, he had learned- tp. play.as an

old man, and his cherished squirrel rifle.

On November 30, 1864 Fountain Branch Carter's home-,- the Carter

■ House, became overnight one of the most historic sites in Tennessee.

- He and his household were awakened and.-his .house was commandeered

by Gen. Jacob D.- Cox of the Union Army l It became - the-rFederal com

mand Post. The inner line of entrenchments was placed.just 60 feet

44 south of the House, in line with the smoke house and farm office, which are still standing. Nineteen members of the Carter household, includ ing nine little grandchildren, took refuge in the rock-walled cellar, for there was no time to flee to the village so unexpectedly had the Battle of Franklin begun. Added to the horrors of that night was the Carter family's anxiety for the safety of Capt. Tod Carter who had volunteered as an aide to Gen. Thomas Benton Smith. Shortly after midnight they emerged from the cellar and Gen. Smith came to tell them that Tod lay on the battlefield badly wounded. He was found about daybreak, uncon scious, his horse, "Rosencrantz" having been killed. He had lain on the cold ground, only 525 feet from his father's house, since about five o'clock the previous afternoon. He was given medical attention by the Regimental Surgeon but he died on December 2 at the age of 24.

Fountain Branch Carter gave three sons to the Confederate Army;

Tod Carter; Lt. Col. Moscow Branch Carter; Pvt. Francis Watkins Carter, all of whom served in the Twentieth Tennessee Regiment, Volunteer In fantry, Confederate States Army.

45 JOffiJ HENRY EATON

By; Virginia McDaniel Bo^an , (Mrs. Joe Bowman)

John Henry Eaton, one of Franklin's most, distinguishe.d sons, was born near Scotland Neck, Halifax County, North Carolina, June,18, 1790., the son of John and Elizabeth Eaton. His father, a maker of chaises by profession, was politically prominent in his section and was evidently a man of means. The senior Eaton received a 4,800 acre g^rant in Williams,on County for acting as executor for his uncle. Major P.inkerton Eatpn, who wa.S:: killed in the Revolutionary War. During litigation over this property,

Williamson County Chancery Court Records reveal .that John H., Eaton, . after finishing at the University of North Car.olina, came;.to Tennessee to live in the winter of 1808. , ...

When his father died in November of 1811,, he. went back to, Nori:h ..-i-i

Carolina to settle his estate and the following.,June, returned to Frank lin, where he said he had "lived ever since." Doubtless upon this return trip he brought his mother with him and established her in this house. Beside her son, Elizabeth Eaton had a (|aughter,, Mary,...who, married '

Edward Breathitt in Williamson County in 1815. and a widowed daughter, ;

Ann E. Henderson who died young leaving, two babies, John E. and, Maria

Louisa, to be reared by her family,

Mrs. Eaton's home, one of the oldest and most historic in Franklin, sheltered many people of note in early days, Andrew, Jackson was often a guest while serving as prosecuting attorney in this district .and legal greats of that day, friends of the Eaton family, often enjoyed .Its hospitality.

In 1813 in Davidson County, John H. Eaton married Myra Lewis whose father, William Terrill Lewis, was a wealthy landowner. It has

47 been said that in his first marriage John Eaton made his fortune.

However, ambitious and capable, he needed little assistance toward prominence. He was first' brought'into the public :eye when he finished

"The Life of Jackson" started by John Reid. Quite early he began the practice of law in Franklin and soon launched upon a political career.

When Eaton proceeded Andrew Jackson to Washington in 1828, hq was a rich, protninent, and'handsome young widower for whom:Washington- . belles immediately set their caps. As he had previously done, he , . stayed at an exclusive boarding house run by William 0'Neilj a well- to-do Washington innkeeper since the founding'of the city. Mrs. b'Neil, the former Rhoda H'owell, was a woman of' refinement, the sister of Governor Richard Howell of New' Jersey who is presumed to be the paternal grandfather of Mrs. Jefferson Davis." ■

At the O'Neil home John Eaton casually renewed .an acquaintance he had made with Margaret O'Neil in 1818 when he hadibeen a guest in thieir boarding house while serving as Senator from Tennessee, She ■; had since married John Timberlake, a Virginian of■ good family. Th^nvj

"iimberlakes had lost a son in infancy but Were the parents of twq small daughters.

In the summer of 1828 John Timberlake died at sea. during an r v .,.i attack of asthma frOtii which he had suffered agonizing attacks for' years. In November, Eaton formally addressed Margaret. Timber lake . j who recalled: "It was only four months after I- had re'ceived .the. news of my husband's death. To" one who- does not know the circumstances this would seem a hasty marriage; but it 'Was not. It must be remem-, bered that ray husband "had been away from me for four years before his death. Mr, Eaton was no child, nor was I. We had known one another

ten years .

48 They wete tnaffied iJahuary i, i029j in iiei: parents* home, but before .[i-; i: oino;- .-ri:' '.tr I'..!' their bridal trip Was over tongues had begiih to Wag; Without a doubt the Batons were innocent victims of jealousy and political intrigue, but, ..ji.X:!n'■ t' i. :'f.r ! /'j .C'.,o.(ti li.jvv :wlr- asw -jlc;..' •; - u ori'!' nevertheless, the groundwork for tragedy was laid. j0 Iru'. ji.;;. v;-- --i' ■' ■; ..-aaoua I n n vro a 0 a That same year Andrew Jackson became President with Eaton in his Cabi- :,.B-d;! ^riqovrrdiidcjii . v.d J' d net as Secretary of War. A furor over Margaret Eaton (never Peggy she said) broke out in the social circles of Washington which rent the whole city and Jackson's family as well. As a general he had moved armies with . r; .-uoodr::- ^ x'r: "I ■ - 'i .sr. oilHT a word, but before the cold shoulders and shUbs of Washington society he . •:y : v.; / .. i:: o.-dv :■ ,0 :riod:- n.y.-l- was helpless.

Remembering the unjust words against his beloved Rachel and ever w... ' ,';w 'r'i: , ■.■'£ ;i 'di" . .. i-' J \ xS:".-/ n.! sensitive to the agonies she suffered from cruel gossips, he championed the beautiful wife of his friend, but to no avail. With his famous temper strained to the utmost Jackson, a quixotic blend of rough frontiersman and chivalrous gentleman, defended her to the last. However, affairs reached ;i;j ; ; r.x' . fiid i jo 'iv'-Cq : i 0'>/ ,;7.,;jr.d J' x'ir: sy! ; such a white hot peak the Cabinet was irreparably split, occasioning the f.;.:! 'in. . .i: • - x ■'"•n -.. r/d sxr.. v-v' ■t -- '-' first resignation of a Vice-President in American history when John C.

Calhoun quit the office and, of course, the resignation of Eaton as

Secretary of War.

John H. Eaton went on to other honors, serving as Governor of Florida and Minister to Spain where Margaret Eaton enjoyed the social life and ac claim afforded by her husband's position that had been denied her in this country. When they returned to Washington his splendid legal talents were used in the Supreme Court of the United States.

The Batons were often guests here in his mother's home until her death in 1843. Mrs. Eaton owned slaves and property and evidently lived in com fortable refinement. The home of John and Margaret Eaton was located on the site presently occupied by St, Philip's Catholic Church. When the

49- 'VV Chictcasaw Treat;y. was'held at' t:hd Maso'nic-■Mali'Irt' lGSOi Eaton plhyed a in. the ,proceedings. * ■'■ '' ■ fg|fn£5iji^'^'ohple'Ws''hlwdys w^ll 'tec'dived'^ti''Ftarikiinv- 'Any

reservations local host'es^^'^ 'Ini-^h't-haVd- ha'd^bbu were ■' ■' ■ kept 'to' thetoskivesv''' thrls V'Matorr' tie iti- '-her Aiitdhiogr'aphy ' thosd' ■ ■ ' who-weire ■pai'ii'cdie't"^ her-hiisbahd's dtirin^ the^'^ittie 'bf■'the Cab'inet''tibJblW thfe'''i3teathitts'V'"fche ■'Eo'sters',''''th¥ and^ the

oVeiftbns."''' Ther'e'' are iaahy'records o'f 'pdrties',■' bbrbecdeS','" dinnet's etc. ' given'ih^ 'thei^'Mdhoi: Whee they weire fh^'towri'. •-'■ ■' ■■■■ John H. Eaton died in Washington, November 17, 1856-,' arid; 'was ■ 'biiiied'-iri Oak Mill'Cemetery there.' 'Iriejifpieably, his wealthy'Widow

■'kiib^dd''herself' tb be led'int^ an hnt'ortunate'm'arriage-with ah Italian ' ■ daribirig' nikster'iorty-'twb years'her junior'Who', five year's later,' ' "■' ''Miridikd'her but of hei bropkirty'and ran off With "her'granddaugh'te'r.' ■ 'Matgaret' E^ Who'had'walked'with presidents and kings, dragged- 'but ■ a'pbyetty-ridderi'existance riritil'her'death'at' the age of eighty fir'"'- ■ 'Washihgtbri'''iiri'187'9''.

' Vr. . .

T - n rr

50 • JUDGE WALTER W. FAW

By; Miss Mary Trim Anderson and Mrs. Emily Beasley Brittain

As a boy growing up in

his native East Tennessee,

Walter Faw often stood beneath

the tree near his hoine oh which

the famous expliref had carved

crudely "D. Boone cilled a Bar

on this Tree'.'" Here he no doubt

■*r ehvisioned the dangers encount

ered by his ancestors and others

who braved the wilderness to

settle East Tennessee. Thus

began a lifelong interest in

local and state history that

culminated in his- being perhaps

Judge Walter W. Faw Williamsbn County's most knowl edgeable historian, an avocation followed particularly after his retirement from^the law, his lifetime profession.

. . Walter Wagner. Faw was the son of Thomas Ambrose and Carrie Elizabeth

Wagner Faw, His father came from Jefferson County, North Carolina, to become a pioneer settler of Johnson City, Tennessee, built the second house in that town and became a merchant. It is interesting to note that the family's ancestry has been traced to one Melchior Pfaw, born in'Basel,

Switzerland, in 1574. The first native American of the family, however, changed the, spelling .to "Fawi*. He was Jacob Faw,- born in5 1765V'' /' ■M

51 Young Walter attended Science Hill Academy in Johnson City,

Kentucky Military Academy,.and Virginia .Mi-^tary Institute, always

winning high honors., in fact, graduati;ng,from the last named insti tution fourth in a class of fifty-seven. He worked with a law firm

in CJhattanooga, then attended Cumberland University Law School at

.Lebanon, graduating .in 1889. In the same year he was admitted to

the bar and set up practice in his home town, where he served as an

alderman and also as.,mayor.

..In .1899..he...rooyed to Franklin and became a partner in the law

■ firm of Faw and-Crpckett. He served as the state's first assistant

attorney-general,; was a representative from Williamson County to the

Legislature and -.in..1.918 was elected to the Court of Appeals, on which

.. he. se.rved until his retirement in 1940, the last seventeen years as

presiding, judge..

Even the few statements by some of Judge Few's co-workers that we

Ijave Bpace to include here give us some measure of the man - Judge

.A, .B. Neil:. "He was the most charming and gracious gentleman I ever

knew;" Attorney-General George McCanless: "The fame of Judge Walter

W, Faw is secure.and.-lasting because it rests on the soundness of his

achievement and on the,greatness of his spirit;" Judge Sam, L. Felts:

"He brought to his work on the court all the,resources of character ■ • • <. and learning thet. make a .great judge;';'. Judge. J., R. Simonds: "Judge

Few. was.by. training.in his home; and .by trailing in his school meticu lous and methodical, ^11 of which showed in his opinions handed down

.through the Court;" ..Judge McAmis: . '.'Presiding Judge,.:Faw xi^as revered - ,for his, unfailing..gopd. humor, serenity .of spirit and tolerance." Having been reared in Tennessee's first county (Washington), near Tennessee's first settlement (Wautauga), .lan .are^ .abundantly rich in

52 history, he returned to this interest with relish after his retire ment (of course he had never really left it). He became an authority

on the history of his adopted town and county as well as his native

ones. Scholar that he was he avidly researched local history, gathered

all kinds of information, wrote articles, received and entertained

other history buffs, was always eager and gracious in sharing informa tion, and sources. This writer was one beneficiary of this generosity, one who admired and respected him deeply as a scholar, a gentleman and

a friend. At Judge Faw's death, his papers and books were given to the State

Library and Archives. Dr. Dan Robison, State Librarian at the time of the gift, called the Faw Collection the largest of its kind ever given to the state. There are nearly nine hundred volumes and separate printed i.'. f items; the papers total about 15,000 pieces. The items range from a copy of a pardon granted by President Andrew Johnson to the judge's father for so-called Civil War "crimes" to a list of stockholders of the old Franklin Turnpike to instructions for renovating a feather bed. Judge Faw was married to Miss Mattie Kernan of Thompson Station. They had five daughters, one of whom, Mrs. Clair Regen, lives in Franklin. Another daughter, Mrs. Chris Winfree, lives in Lynchburg, Virginia.

53 MISS SUSIE GENTRY i

By: Miss Chloe Yates

m m

*

x-^

X.

■ A-x-

Miss Susie as a young woman Miss Susie Gentry

"There is properly no history,

only biography." I*

--Emerson

What could be more fitting for

our, town's celebration of the Bicen-

. .tennial Year than a backward look at

_ one of our most patriotic women. Miss

The Gentry home • Susie Gentry. Miss Susie, as she was affectionately known, was born in Shelbyville, BedfSrd. County, Tennessee, in 1860. At an'early age she moved.to Franklin with her parents. Doctor

Watson Meredith and Martha Ridley Jones Gentry.

55 Dr. Gentry was born in 1831 near what is now known as Harpeth

Presbyterian Church on Hillsboro Road, the son of Theopilus Lacy

Gentry and his first wife, Rebecca Sappington, Miss Gentry was a

lateral descendant of Dr. John Sappington whose biography is written

by Mr. Glenn Johnson. Dr. Gentry was a surgeon in the Confederate

Army with the 17th Tennessee Regiment and was later made commander-

in-chief of four hospitals in Montgomery, Alabama,

Her mother's father Dr. John P. Jones was a cotton planter of

Marshall County. He, too, served in the Confederacy and was held

as a political prisoner for a while by the Federals.

Miss Gentry was accomplished in art and music and was one of

the most loved women of the town and county. After her parents'

death she continued to live at their home, Maplehurst, sometimes

called Lynnhurst. It was located in Wast End where the Colony House

now stands. Her house was furnished with interesting antiques which

were admired by the many visitors who crossed her threshold.

Through her ancestry which can be traced to the counties of

Sussex and Surrey, England, to 1327, and because she had relatives

to serve in every American War, she was eligible to join every

patriotic organization in America. Because of her deep sense of

loyalty to her town, state and nation, she did become a member of

all patriotic orders of the day and served each well. She was in

strumental in organizing the first local chapter of the Daughters

of the American Revolution. Named the Old Glory Chapter it was

destined to become one of the best known in the United States.

She. organized a chapter for children called the Matthew

Fontaine Maury Chapter, Ehe. was also responsible for the organi-

; zation of,the-first ..chapter o£ the Daughters of 1812 in the state. She was founder,, of the Watauga - Cumberland Settlers As?ociatio.n,.

She was a Colonial Dame and a member of the United Daughters of-the

Confederacy.

She worked diligently to keep alive the names of those who strug

gled, fought, and in many instances died,that we might have the ad

vantages, privileges, and freedoms found in our great democracy.

Miss Gentry was interested in history and strove to create

interest in others. Her efforts to. promote an interest in history,

are attested by the following article which appeared in The Review-^

Appeal in 1911;

"Franklin High School pupils raised $5.00 for, contributions. tO:

the Maury Monument Fund. This came as a result of the interest awaken

ed by Susie Gentry, who a few days before talked on Maury."

On June 14, 1895, the,first Flag Day in Tennessee,was celebrated

in the Gentry ,home. An old newspaper dipping dated June 18 (Special)

gives this account: "Flag Day was celebrated Tuesday by the Daughters

of the American Revolution at Maplehurst, the home of the Regent, Miss

Susie Gentry, from 10 to 12 a.m. The home was artistically decorated

with Washington colors, blue, buff, and national flags...Miss Gentry

read a most interesting paper relative to the flag."

In 1916, she arranged the program for the placing of a bronze

marker at the tomb of Gen. Andrew Jackson at the Hermitage.

Another newspaper clipping reveals the following interesting in

formation:

"The Continental Tea given by the Old Glory Chapter, D.A.R., at

the domicile of Mrs, Atha Thomas, February 10th, was the most brilliant

social success our little town has known for some time. The guests assembled at early candle light, as the quaint invitations requested.

57 We were carried back to the days of "Auld Lang Syne" when the

courtly master of ceremonies, Mr. J, L. Parkes, Sr., presented us

. to the stately D.A.R. personating the grand dames of yore. The

regent. Miss Susie Gentry,,as Betsy Fauntleroy, carried out the plan

of entertainment with the tact of a general and the ease of a diplo

mat..."

Miss Susie was an active worker in the Presbyterian Church and

exemplified,in her daily living the true virtues of Christian woman

hood.

She died in 1944, and is buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery with her

parents and a sister who died at the age of three.

From Miss Susie we have received a rich heritage. Let us take

up .the standard she laid down and accept the challenges of service,

, duty, and loyalty to our country with willing minds, and loving

...hearts to the end that we may have "peace and good will among men."

58 THOMAS HARDEMAN

By: Miss Mary Sneed Jones

Thomas Hardeman, son< of Dorothy Edwards,.,and Jtohn .Hardeman, was .

born January 8, 1750, in Pittsylyania Coun,ty.i .Virginia, and died June 8,

1833, He was a settler in the "Wautaga Country" in 1777. He was a

soldier in the regiment of Col. John Sevier at the Battle of King's

Mountain as a member of Captain .Bean's Company, He commanded a com

pany against the Cherokee Indians, in the:.Nicojack .War of 1794 and

acquired the title of captain. He moved to Davidson County and In 1778 he and Elijah Robertson, brother of JameS'Robertson, riepresented David

son County in the North Carolina: House of Commons, In the same,-year

Thomas Hardeman was a member of the North Carolina Convention called to

consider the ratification of the Federal Constitution of 1787... .He ,was

also the representative of Davidson County in the. General .Assembly, of

the Territory of the United States south ,of the Ohio River (commonly called the South-west Territory) and was one of-the-five delegates.from

Davidson County to the Cbnvention at Khoxville in 1796, At this.meeting the first Constitution of the State of Tennessee.was adopted and.promul- u gated. The other delegates were Andrew Jackson, John.MoNairy, James .

Robertson and Joel Lewis. Thomas Hardeman was also a Senator.in the second General Asserribly'of Tennessee-in September 1797;

For his services-durihg the Revolution .the state of; North Carolina granted'i:o Thoiinajs Hardeman 640 acres of land on. ''Little Harpebh River" in that part of Davidson- Goiinty which was later: included in .Williamson

County. He sold his "Little Harpeth" tract on December 26, 1800. In

1802 he purchased 2160 acres from the three Blounts (Willie, John and

59 Thomas) on both sides of the Big Harpeth River in the southeastern

part of Williamson County. In ,1803 he established his residence in

a three story log house on a hill about 5 miles south of Franklin,

and about one mile east of the county road known as Lewisburg Pike.

Thioma's Hafdeman named his house Sugar Hill.

' His wife's Mary Harding Perkins, died in 1798, and he later mar

ried'her sister, a widow, Mrs. Susan Perkins Marr. All his children

wdre the issue of his first V7ife.

When Thomas Hardeman acquired large tracts of land in Williamson

County, it was doubtless his purpose to settle some of his sons on

this property. In 1802 he conveyed 640 acres to Eleazer and 423 acres

to John. In 1807 he conveyed 646 acres to Peter, and in 1812 he gave

to Thomas and Bailey jointly 546 acres.

' Thomas Hardeman was a stout man, possessed a very fine consti-

'tution,' determined will and splendid intellect. His education was

originally very limited, but by study he became a man of distinction.

He was a Close friend of Andrew Jackson. He was a farmer and made a

forturie. Thomas Hardeman brought up his sons to his ov7n business

except John'and Bailey, to x^hom he gave fine educations. They were

trained as lawyers. Both were men of fine mental capacity, especir

ally John, who was one of the most accomplished literary men of the

Western States.

Thomas Hardeman taught certain maxims to his children that have

come down to his grandchildren for generations and have had a great

influence oVef his posterity: First -• Pay your honest debts; Second -

Never disgrace your family; Third - Help the honest and industrious

kiii. • ' ' ■

60 The following is a brief obituary of Thomas Hardeman, Sr. found in

the State Library at Nashville.

The Western Weekly Review Franklin, Tennessee Friday Evening June 28, 1833 Died in this county on the 3rd inst. Tho. Hardeman, Esq. in the 84th year of his age. The deceased was born on the 8th day of January, 1750. He was one of the formers of our State Constitution, and has long been known as an active, prominent, and useful citizen, "full of years" and honors, the aged veteran has sunk quietly into the silent grave, "the house appointed for all living." (A more extended obituary shall appear next week). Children of Thomas Hardeman and Mary Harding Perkins: Nicholas Perkins Hardeman (1772-1818) M. Ann Neely; Anna Hardeman (1774-1833) M. Seth Lewis; John Hardeman (1776-1829) M. Lucrettia Nash - Nancy Knox; Constantine Hardeman (1778- ) M. Sally J. Marr - Mary Little; Eleazer Hardeman (1779- ) M. Elizabeth Foster; Julia Ann Hardeman (1782-1860) M. Davis - Thomas Bacon; Peter Hardiman (1784-1820) M. Susan Stone; Dorothy Hardeman (178601843) M. George Barnet; Thomas Jones Hardeman (1788-1854) M. Mary Polk - Mrs. Eliza Hamilton; Blackstone Hardeman (1790- ) M. Anna Bunch; Elizabeth Hardeman (1791-1870) M. Glen Owen - Dr. Reese Corsine; Bailey Hardeman (1795-1836) M. Rebecca Amanda F. Wilson; Franklin Hardeman (1796 - died in infancy); Pitt Hardeman (1798 died in infancy).

61 ;.ANDREW JACOB HAUN

, , By:, Miss Mary Trim Anderson

"A teacher affects

eternity; he can never tell

where his influence .ends."

So wrote Henry Adamp, and most

would agree. Almost everyone

can think of at least one

»i fc teacher who had a marked in fluence on his life, an in

fluence which he is passing on

to his children or others with

whoia he ■-•associates. . There is

K« '* » ■ f El no way of knowing how many / Af '' .■ . people in Franklin and how , t 'Ct^l t • ' wm

t' ',» many who have gone from Franklin t -> ft'M I to the uttermost parts of.the

vV/:.-- •: earth carry with them the mem- lory of an early morning greeting

Andrew Jacob Haun■in his at the schoolhouse door, a World War I .uniform respect for accuracy in eyery day"^"'work,- the love of the apt phrase and uplifting philosophy found in the required memory passages -- all a part of the influence of one of the town's best known teachers, Andrew Jacob Haun.

Mir. Hauri's' teaching career spanned more than half a century, thirty-

five years of which were spent in Franklin. During most of thie time he was principal of Franklin Elementary School.

63 Like so many of whom we have written, the Hauns came to Tennes see as a result of a Revolutionary War grant. After the war five

Haun brothers came from Pehhsylvahia to take up land in East Tennes see. Both of A. J. Hauh's parents we're descended from these brothers, and both bore the Haun name. Our subject, one of eight children, was born in a log house in Hamblen County and started to school in a log building, to which he later returned for his firstfeaching assignment.

In the meantime, he received a basic education in Russellville and

Whitesburg, studying Ray's arithmetic and Webster's bluebacked speller, both of which volumes he treasured throughout his life. He. then entered Tusculum College at Greenville; attending for a portion, of the year and teaching a portion, he earned the L. I. Degree in two years.

He later continued his education at the University of Tennessee, the

University of Kentucky and Peabody College,

After teaching.assignments at Loudon, Nashville and -Guthrie,

Kentucky, Mr. Haun came to Franklin. From 1910 until his retirement in 1945, he was principal of the school at Five Points, at first and at last an elementary school. However, in 1910 high school classes were added to the school; he and Miss Nelle Shea were the only tea chers that year. During most of his time in Franklin he taught., sixth, seventh, and eighth grade arithmetic, again always relying heavily on Ray, no matter what the adopted text .Mathematics he liked because it left no room for argument as did history, for example.

A methodical and. precisesort of person, he. stressed accuracy in all' phases of work. ..

According to some who were at .Franklin Elementary School as stu dents and/or teachers,, one ..frequent, activity during-the Haun regime was the mathematical co.nt^est designed to develop accuracy, and speed...... ■■ '■ • ■ . ■ ' 64. ' • '" Other activities with high priority were calisthenics, deep-breathing

exercises in the fresh air, and the memorization of Bible verses, secular

poetry, patriotic poetry and songs. Singing was an important activity

of every day.

The only divergence in this professional career was the one year

Mr. Haun spent in the service of the YMCA during World War I. He was

stationed in London and took a trip through Scotland and Ireland before

returning home.

He and his wife, the former Mattie Oliver of Nashville, lived in

West End, where he always had a garden that was his great pleasure. In his younger days he had a standing offer of a dollar for anyone who could find in his garden a weed two inches high. It is not recorded that anyone collected.

65 GREEN HILL,

By; T. Vance Little

The cemetery in which'Green'Hill, Revolutionary patriot and re

ligious leader, is"buried is'maintained as a shrine by the T-ehnessee

Conference of the United"Methodist'Church.' 'The' cemetery is lodated^at the Williamson County home 6if Green Hill oh Cohcord-Road'near Brent-

wood.

Green Hill came to Williamson County in 1799 from his home in

Louisburg, North Carolina. He left a life of relative ease and affluence

to help spread the Methodist faith to the frontier.

Before coming to Tennessee Green Hill held numerous positions of

political trust in his native North Carolina. He represented North

Carolina in four Continental Congresses. He was elected Treasurer of

the Halifax District of North Carolina during the Revolutionary War

and is personally credited with saving the treasury and records of the

District before the advance of Cornwallis' army.

Green Hill was commissioned to the rank of Major in the North

Carolina Militia during the War for American independence.

Perhaps more noted for his religious work, Green Hill was inst::u-

mental in the spread of Methodism to the American frontier. Though

never himself an ordained minister, he was a lay preacher and his home

in both North Carolina dnd Tennessee was ever open to Methodist leaders

of the day. His North Carolina home was the scene of the first Methodist

General Conference held in America. This conference was attended by

Bishops Coke and Asbury. The Western Conference of 1808 was held in his Williamson County home. This conference was attended by Bishops

Asbury and McKendree, who were guests in Green Hill's home.

- ■67 The Liberty United Methodist Church claims Green Hill as its founder. This church, which is still in existence, is located near the Green Hill home.

Green Hill was born November 3, 1741, in Bute County, North

Carolina. He was the son of Green and Grace Bennett Hill, both natives of the Virginia Tidewater. He was twice married^ first to Nancy Thomas and second to Mary Seawell. He died September 11, 1826.

68,:.. DR. CHARLES CLAUDIUS JOHNSON^

By: Mary Johnson Mills . (Mrs. L. L, Mills)

Dr..Charles Claudius Johnson was

born in Kelokuk, Iowa, February 25,

1886. He attended the public schools

there completing his elementary and

secondary education. In order to

obtain money to enter medical school,

he worked as a painter and a mason as

' k. well as working on the Chicago Rail ..-A road. It was during this time that

he married Miss Clara Elizabeth Lowe. !,. -fl A. -tH They lived to celebrate their 52nd it/' wedding anniversary. In 1906, Dr. Johnson enrolled in Stt * J ,Meharry Medical College, Nashville, /.fB . • 4b but being forced to drop out of school Dr. Charles C. Johnson to earn money necessary for college

expenses, he did not complete his medical, course until 1917. After passing his examination for practicing medicine in Tennessee, he and Mrs. Johnson moved to Franklin to stay for 6 months. Forty-nine years of outstanding and devoted medical service to his people as well as all others

in Franklin and VJilliamson County followed his decision to establish his

practice here. In June of 1948, he established the Johnson Hospital on Columbia Avenue, where it remained until a few years before his death on December 18, 1966. 69 In the Johnson Hospital more than one hundred babies were born each

year.

In other ways, Dr. Johnson played a,vital role in the life of

the county. Throughout his career here, he was a leader in the civic

affairs of the commiinity. He never passed an opportunity to speak for and take a stand on any issue that would work for the advancement

of his people. He helped to establish the Pythian Lodge.

His church. Shorter Chapel A.M.E. Church, was the main source

of strength in his life. In Shorter he served as superintendent of

the Sunday School, member of the Stewards Board, member of the Trustee

Board as well as in the senior choir.

Dr. Johnson served-as a member of the Federal Housing Committee, member of "the staff of the Williamson County Hospital as well as mem ber of the state organization of medicine.

On November 30, 1958, the Charles C. Johnson School, bearing his name, was dedicated with the community paying tribute to Dr. and Mrs.

Johnson, ' .

The Bible in the Library of the Charles C. Johnson School was given by Dr. and Mrs. Johnson.

At his death, books were placed in the Williamson County Library in his memory. ■ • , ■ .

' J .; •

70 ,DR. HIRAM A. LAWS

By: Elva Mayo Darby ... (Mrs. William J. Darby)

Dr .., Hiram A. .Laws was a 1 |son of, Colonel John .gpd. Mary . (Cathy) Laws. The, father

as born in.Orange Couppy,

orth Carolina, and c.aipe to

ennessee in.,. 1,828. and settled

at Chapel Hill, Marshall County. [He was a farmer and ..Represented [Marshall County,three times in

the.,lower house .of the State Dr. Hiram A.'LaWs, Sr., and hiw viife, Mary Thompson Laws, daughter of Dr.. I^egislature and .one time in the Elijah Thompson upper house. He ,was, also sheriff of the county and filled every office from justice of tl^e peace to state senator. He died in 1874.

Hiram A. Lawsiwas born

November 10, 1850, ?ln,.Marshall ..^pDunty, Tennessee, and ...attended

■ the common schools,.. He also

* udied medicine ip the Uni-

mm ' vcrsity of Nashville and gradu- ^ed from the same, in 1873. He

practiced for.some time at

Thompson. Station, and ip 1884

he was licensed, also, to preach

71 the gospel. The thought of founding a Methodist Church at Thompson

Station originated in the heart-of.Dr.,Laws, , He was a devout member

of the Methodist Church, and "upon comingrto Thompson Station was

amazed to find that there was no church of his faith in such a substan

tial oommunity.

Upon investigation he found that there were a number of people who

were Methodists' but Were-members of the churches in Spring Hill, Cowles' Chapel, aiiid Pope's' Chapel. There were others whose church preference

was Methodist but''Who'%ere not members of any church. This nucleus of

interested people obta'iried as their first pastor Reverend J. G. Bolton,

who held servic^s'first'in the Thompson Station Church of Christ, later

transferring to the Thompson Station School for services. This was

"about the year 1872. -^Iri 1873 the Church was organized with about six-

teen charter 'itembets, diawn from Spring Hill, Cowles' Chapel, and Pope's Chapel. ■ Under the leadership of the Reverend F. C.^iikes, ,'the

sanctuary of the present Methodist Church at Thompson Station was com

pleted in 1876, and the'Church marked itsriOOth anniversary-.Sunday,

May 16, 1976, at the church. Dr. and Mrs, Hiram A. Laws III of. Chatta

nooga were "among- those attending the services there.

In 1877 Dr. Hiram A. Laws, Sr., married Miss Ifery Emma Thompson,

daughter of Dr. Elijah Thompson, and to them these children were born:

Daisy Clese Laws',' 1877-1887, Ewell Hatton Laws, 1880-1948, Mary Frances

Laws (Meader), 1883-; and Hiram L. Laws, Jr., 1888-1962.

Dr. Laws, Srij died December 6, 1929, at his home near Thompson

Station, forraetly the Elijah Thompson home, in the 79th year of his life.

Funeral sefvices-'were conducted December 8 at 2:00 p.m. at the

Thompson Station ■Methodist Church by the Reverends H. H. Wise, F. A.

Calh'ouri, arid G.' L.' Beale, His remains were interred at Mt. Hope

. 72 Cemetery. .Surviving, were his wife,. Mrs, Mary Thompson-Laws, three;, children. Dr. H. A. Laws, Jr., of Chattanooga, E. H. Laws of Panama, :v- and Mrs., J. L. Meader of Columbus, Mississippi, two foster-daughters,

Mrs, Harvey Allen of Chaney .Springs, and Mrs... Irvin Early of Jackson ville, Florida, and a sister-inr-law. Miss Mickie Thompson of Thompson

Station. She died at. the family home, August 28, 19.36, in the same room where she had been born more than,eighty years.before.

The pall-bearers were his grandson and nephews, H. A. Laws, III,

Laws and Josh Meaders, Harvey Allen, Sam Laws, and John Allison,. Regeh

Bethurum and Padgett were the funeral directors.

Dr. Laws was beloved by all who knew him. His home was in deed and trust "the house by the side of the road." He never turned away anyone from his door; even a tramp was fed and sent on his way, with thanksgiving for his benefactor. He was a citizen who always had the welfare of others in his heart.

An excerpt from a letter written by Dr. Laws on February 20, 1912, at

Thompson Station to a Mr. G. T. Laws, Hickory Flat, Mississippi, trying to ascertain whether or not Mr. G, T. Laws was a relative, follows; "I am the son of John Laws of Hillsboro, Orange County, North Carolina, who was born in 1801 and died 1874. My father had four brothers. My father had three children by the first wife, who was Penelope Minton. My mother was his second wife, Mary M. (Cathy) Laws, by whom he had five children. I am now 62 years old, or 62 years young, for I don't, feel old.

I have three children. I practiced medicine for 20 years and have been retired for about that long. I have a farm and am worth about 15 or

20,000 dollars. I am a Methodist in religion and am on my way to Heaven, by God's grace. I am a Democrat in politics, but always vote my principles, and have a few times voted for a Republican when a moral question was the issue, and the Democrats took the immoral side. My principles are above all parties. ■ '

Now if you can get heads and tails out of this you are welcome to it. If ever you pass this way I want you to' stop and see me, with out invitation, I tell you T will'do the same, for if you are hot liberal and friendly you are not of the' same stock I ami

Well, hoping to hear from you again, and to see you sometimes,

I-am truly yours,-.

Hiram A. Laws"

74 TOM LITTLE

By; Anne Beasley Johnson (Mrs. Dobs.on Johnson)

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' . . —Staff photo by BUI Preston I Tom Little and his friends stand before a huge replica of the cartoon which brought the .'cartoonist the Pulitzer prize, From left are: Eddy Arnold, country and pop singer and master oi . \ ■:} ■' tcereihohies, Silliman Evans Jr., publisher of THE-TENNESSEAN/'Little, Dr. John J, Le.ntz, xity- ,county health director, and Don Hesse, cartoonist for the St. Louis Globe Depiocrat. •

75 Tom Little, the "Southpaw from Snatch', is one of Williamson

County's most illustrious sons. Recognized nationally and abroad

for his newspaper work, it seems logical that he be recognized in his

native county along with others who are,included in the Bicentennial

Honor Roll.

Born in the tiny village of Peytonsville, Tennessee, on Septem

ber 27, 1898, to John Wallace and Florence Johnson Little, Tom, after

the death of his father, lived with his grandmother and grandfather

Johnson in this rural community and attended school there for a short time, Peytonsville was named for Colonel Peyton who received a Revo

lutionary War land grant.

In Goodspeed's "History of Tennessee" is recorded this interesting fact; "It is ia matter of record that in 1836 Peytonsville was called

Snatchett, or as the public now (1886) have it -- Snatch. Its name originated in the fact, it is said, that one individual owed another

$10, and the creditor being unable to collect the debt seized the op

portune moment and snatched the money from the unsuspecting debtor."

(Local color of other areas of the county is magnified by the place names by which they have been known for years. Included in such a list are: Possum Trot, Lousy Level, Mudsink, Henpeck Lane, Pumpkin

Center School, and Little Texas.)

Tom and his mother, "Miss Florence", lived in Franklin for a few years on Third Avenue. During these years Miss Florence worked at

Roberts Store (now Draper and Darwin). Tom Little's aunt, his mother's sister, Mrs. T. 0. Murrey, the former Miss Myrtle Johnson, still lives in Franklin.

Later Mrs. Little and her son moved to Nashville. Miss Florence worked inithe ladies ready-to-wear department of Lebeck's (now Harvey's),

76 and Tom attended Montgomery Bell Academy. •While still in l^igh school,

.Little and.a buddy went to see the city editor of the Tennessean about a

job. There was one job available, so they took it and divided the $15.00

weekly salary. From, this "sobering salary, Tom began his lifelong' love

affair with newspapers."

.In 1957 Tommy Little: tvas avjafded'the'coveted Pulitzer Prize for his

cartoons which appeared for 33 years in the'Nashville Tennessean. It was

in 1956 that Tom sent out his message through his now famous cartoon of a

crippled boy on crutches watching his buddies play football. "The caption

was.: "Wonder why:my parents didn't give me the Sabin Shots?" 'It was this

cartoon which helped him win the Pulitzer award.

On February-l?, 1958,. at the Rlchland Country Club in Nashville,

Tennessee, a; rousing tribute was paid Mr. Little by more than 400 friends

in recognition, of.his ■forty-six years, with the'Tennessean as a reporter,

editor, and cartoonist. He was lauded for his twenty years service as the political cartoonist.. Many, of these cartoons "drew a sharp image of issues

that bothered city, .state, and the nation." '

iGues.ts on this, occasion included scores -of Tom's Nashville friends, newspaper men.represe;nting .many, of this nation's dailies, and a group of past and present political figures.

. Those coming from: a. distance had doggedly stuck by the airlines strug

gling, with snow,.and.zerojtemperature to-get them to Nashville.

Decorations for the fiinner included tablecloths on which Little's more

famous cartoons had been printed, the entire wall behind the speakers'

table was covered with,;aTgiant cartoon strip in color, and on the speakers'

table were figurinesiof characters from Litfle's "Sunflower Street."

. . . .Louise Davis, the. Tennessean's special news witer, in 1973 reported

the acquisition oF 4,0QD to 5,GOO original Tom Little cartoons by the

77 Joint University Library. Mrs. Lillian Hannah Little, wife of Tom,

■ made this" magnanimous gift to Vanderbilt University. "This collection

• was much sought after by several universities that were interested in

them both as an art form and as a valuable source for historials in

terpreting the era," It will be housed in the same special collections

-■ room Where 'original 'manuscripts of the Fugitives and the Grantland

Rice banuscripts are preserved.

"I'm glad it's here," said Mrs. Little. "It had to be in Ten

nessee. It wouldn't seem right any other way for Tom."

Quoting from the "Vanderbilt Alumnus" Autumn 1973: "That Tom's

drawings would end up in the archives of a university was probably

the last thing in the minds of relatives when he was growing up in

the tiny sommunicy of Snatch in Williamson County. He started draw

ing when he was still a toddler, lying on his stomach in front of the

fire, and doing his pictures with his left hand."

"Little Tommy Little" was truly a tall man. He was praised by .

Coleman A. Harwell with these words: "His life and works are a

■ source of pride and inspiration to every newspaperman. He has the

bigness of modesty, the charm of sincerity, and the impact of cour

age • • ,

Included in "Who's Who in the South and Southeast" and in "Who's.

Who in America" are awards to Little for various achievements such as:

editorial award 1947; Christopher Award 1953, Freedoms Foundation

Metal 1955 and 1956, Pulitzer Prize for Cartoons 1957. Also included

in the above named "Who's Who" were the memberships held by Mr.

Little in many professional, civic, and social clubs.

The "Southpaw from Snatch" was a tall man who cast a long shadow.

Information from Mrs. Tom Little and Miss Katie Lou Gatlin

78 GARNER McCONNICO

By: Lula Fain Moran Major (Mrs. Herman Major)

In the fall of 1191, about

two years before the formation

of Williamson County from David

son, there came to the neighbor

hood of the present town of

a Franklin a young man by the name

of Garner McGonnico. Here, "he i I formed the Church at Big Harpeth

which was constituted the Saturday

before the four,th Lord's day in

May 1800, it being the third

church constituted South of Nash

ville of which he was ordained to

the ministry in the year 1800 and

took the pastoral care the same

day which he continued with great

ability and full satisfaction to Garner McGonnico the church up to the time of his Picture'taken from the original portrait . belonging to Mr. and Mrs. K. T. McGonnico, death." These vjords come from Jr. ■■■ ■ ^ ■ the memorial written in May 1845 by Jesse Cox, then pastor of Big Harpeth Baptist Church. This memorial was recorded in their church book to preserve the memory of their beloved Pastor,

Elder Garner McGonnico and also for future generations.

79 Elder McConnico served this church so long and so well that it has often been called McConnico Baptist Church. This same Big Harpeth Baptist Church is now on Liberty Pike and is the oldest church congre

gation in the county. Garner McConnico was born on July 20, 1771, in Lunenburg County, Virginia, the youngest of three brothers. His father died when he was young and before "he received any education." His religious life was strongly influenced by his mother, and it was at her bidding that he went to hear an English-born Baptist preacher who had been in the British army. During the Revolutionary War he had been forced so often to hide from the British and Tories that he had formed a dislike for Englishmen and was determined not to listen. In spite of this determi nation, however, he listened intently and after that "he never rested until he embraced religion which was on Sept. 20, 1788." He united

with the Baptist order at Tusekiah. Because his elder brother opposed his preaching due to lack of training for the ministry. Garner and his young wife, Mary Walker McConnico, whom he married on November 20, 1789, left Virginia in 1795 and came to Davidson County, Tennessee. Although he had promised his brother that he would not preach again, he found he could not live up to this promise. He expressed his not preaching as experiencing dark ness. Because of a chance meeting with a venerable "little old man... that looked like old Paul," while he was looking for a stray horse, he once again attended church services and was called on to preach .. by his new friend. Elder Dillahunty. This was at Richland Meeting House in Davidson County - the first Baptist church established south of the Cumberland River.

80 After forming the Baptist Church at Big Harpeth in 1800 and being one of the twenty original members. Garner McConnico labored with the church until his death on August 17, 1833. Elder McConnico was described as being pecuikiarly commanding with an intellectual face, penetrating eye, and a manly and pleasing voice. He was dignified in demeanor and had a stout robust appearance. He is said to have had a wonderful recollection and to have ranked with the very best speakers of his day. "When he once embraced a subject he investigated it thoroughly; his ideas were clear and conspicuous and his arguments weighty and powerful. With him heresy found no compromise." Not only did he preach for thirty-three years at

Big Harpeth Baptist Church which was at that time on the Murfreesboro Pike, but he preached extensively elsewhere, especially in Middle Tennessee, and was responsible for the establishment of several other Primitive Baptist churches. Wilson Creek Primitive Baptist Church at Triune was started by the

Big Harpeth Church and Garner McGonnico was the first preacher there also.

Joseph Tarkington, in his old age (1887) wrote of a meeting that Elder

McConnico was holding during the earthquakes of 1811. "At one meeting the

Rev. Mr. McConnico, a Baptist preacher, large and fine-looking, was preach ing, when the cry was made that the house was sinking, and, such was the chronic terror of the people, the whole congregation was in confusion; some running away, shouting, 'He's comingi He is comingi' -- some screaming for mercy; some fell out of the gallery -- others lay moaning and crying.

One man tried to get out through a large chink between the logs of the house, but could not turn his foot to get it out, and had to be pulled back."

He was taken sick while away from home, but at his request he was re moved to his home where he died. He was buried in the Kihnard cemetery in the Arno community where his daughter, Adeline B. McConnico, first the wife of Michael Kinnard and then the wife of Eli Dobson, also lies buried.

81 SAM McGEE-..

By: T., Vance Little

In 1974 in an article that appeared in Pickin', the Magazine of Blue-

grass and Old Time Country

' ■ ■ ■ Music, Charles Wolfe had the

following to say about country

fmusicians Sam and Kirk McGee:

i"For over fifty years the

pcGees have walked the tight-

Irope between surviving commer-

cially and maintaining traditional

lvalues. Along the way they

jhave made their own indelible

Inark on the history of the music.

jSam virtually invented the flat- j _ top picking guitar style, and

|was the most influential guitar & 7^ player in the early history of Sam McGee country music."

Sam McGee was born May 1, 1094, in the Peytonsville community of William son County, Tennessee. He was one of ten children of John and Mary Truett

McGee. The elder McGee farmed and for the entertainment of family and friends played the fiddle. He, his brother, and a kinsman Blythe Poteet often joined forces for neighborhood musical sessions.

■ Sam McGee artd his younger brother Kirk grew up in this musical tradi tion. It was'only natural that they, too, would become proficient at

83 several musical instruments. Sam first learned to play the banjo so

that he could accompany his father.

The first "professional" appearances of Sam McGee were at local dances in Williamson County. The musicians received ten cents a set for playing at these occasions. Other musicians included Willie

Williams, Felix Bennett and brother Kirk, of course. (For religious reasons, Sam's father did not play for dances.)

Around 1910 Sara McGee's father bought a store. It was there that he came under the influence of the black musicians who gathered there.

These black musicians introduced the McGees to the guitar, an instru ment that was relatively rare in rural Williamson County.

Sam McGee probably gave little thought to ever becoming a real professional musician. By 1920 he had become a blacksmith. Then one day in 1923 he took time off from shoeing horses to go to Franklin and hear a banjoist and another man who doubled on the fiddle and guitar, who were performing at the courthouse. Sam was so impressed with the performers that he returned the next day taking with him his brother Kirk. They invited the old banjo picker and fiddler to go home with them to spend .the night. The fiddler, was Sid Harkreader, and the banjo player was Uncle Dave Macon.

Two weeks later Sam McGee laid down his blacksmith tools and went on tour with Uncle Dave .and Harkreader, Their first engagement was at the Loew's Theater in Birmingham for a two.-week stand, Sam-played, a guitar solo for a buck dancer named Bob Bradford. The tune became

Sam's most famous composition, "Buck Dancer's Choice.",

Sam McGee became a regular backup for Uncle Dave Macon and went with him to New York City in 1925 to make several records. The record ing engineer was so impressed with Sam's ability that he suggested

84 Sam record a few songs of his own. He did so and these records survive

today as classic examples of Tennessee bluegrass music.

■ 'It is something less than coincidental that the career of Sam McGee

paralleled the early history of the Grand Ole Opry. In November, 1925,.

WSM started a Saturday night country music radio show called the WSM Barn

Dance, The show originated from a little room at the old Noel Hotel.

As charter members of the show, it was there that George D, Hay, the

"solemn old judge" introduced the McGees as "Sam and Kirk McGee from

Sunny Tennessee," a title that stuck with them thoughtout their years in

show business. In the early years of the Grand Ole Opry Sam McGee per

formed with his brother Kirk, Uncle Dave Macon and various other musical

groups.

In the 1930's Sam McGee and his brother Kirk teamed up with Arthur,.^,

Smith, a legendary fiddler from Humphries County, Tennessee, Smith,gave,

up ah occupation of farming to join the musical McGees, They became .the

Dixieliners, one of the most popular Opry bands during the 1930's.

In 1937 Smith to Hollywood to try his hand at "Western music," Sam

McGee played with other groups for several years. For a time they pro- ■

vided■the musical background for the rustic comedy team of Sara and.Sally, In the edrly 194b's they toured with Bill Monroe and did a thirty-minute ■

comedy and'musical set at the end of the show.

The''popularity of Sam McGee's style of music waned in the 1950*s, it being surplanted by Western type music featuring vocal groups. During this period of time Sam McGee V7as able to practice a profession that he had not

lost during his musical years, that is, operating his Williamson County

farm.

By the 1960*s country music and Sam McGee had been rediscovered. The revival of interest in the older style of music transformed Sam McGee's

85 popularity as a Grand Ole Opry performer to national prominence.■The

new fame began with a reunion of the McGee brothers and Arthur Smith

•to record two albums for Folkways Records, These albums introduced , Sam McGee to a new "folk audience, vjhich in turn led to a series of

folk festival appearances. .

The Newport Folk Foundation sponsored the McGees and Smith-in' a

series of concerts in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. These con- ' certs prompted a New York Times critic to say that he had heard more ."playing" from one McGee concert than he had.heard from a. dozen Grand

Ole Opfy shows,

Sam McGee' died August 21, 1975, as a result of a tractor acci

dent which occurred while he was working his 400-acre farm in his native Williamson County. It was appropriate that, he should die tilling

the land he had loved so much. Most of his neighbors would have been

surprised to know 'that this neighboring farmer enjoyed an international

reputation as a musician, that he had been the featured performer at

a Festival of American Folklife, sponsored by Washington's Smithsonian

Institution or that he had been honored to receive in 1975 the Gover- .nor's Outstanding Tennessean Award for outstanding achievement in the

field of' Country music and in 1971 the Country Silver Service Award presented by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers

for a. half century of contributions to the country music industry.

86 DR. WILLIAM J. McMURRAY

By: T. Vance Little

William J. McMurray, Confederate soldier, physician, and his torian, was born in Williamson County,.September 22, 1842. He was the son of John and Mary Jane Still McMurray,

McMurray was a member of Company B of the Twentieth Tennessee

Regiment. He participated in several battles, was wounded four times and finally had to have an arm amputated on the battlefield at Atlanta.

He served as first lieutenant of his company.

After the Civil War, William J. McMurray returned to his home near

Nolensville. He returned to school and graduated from the Nolensville

Academy. After graduating he studied medicine under Drs. Wm. Clark and Thomas G. Shannon. Two years later he graduated in medicine from the University of Nashville and was valedictorian of his class.

Dr. McMurray practiced medicine in Nashville, where he was active in both medical and political circles. He served as county jail phy sician for seven years and as physician for Tennessee Industrial School for twelve years. He was a member of the Nashville City Board of

Health and for many years he served on the State Board of Health, being president of that group for several years.

Dr. McMurray had a deep interest in history. He was one of the chiefs of the "Scots of Tennessee" as well as a long-time member of the Tennessee Historical Society. Perhaps his greatest achievement in the field of history was his writing the History of The Twentieth

Tennessee Regiment Volunteer Infantry, CSA.

87 r . , :DR. DANIEL,MgPHAIV: ■ ;

'.By:,; : Elya Mayo Darby (Mrs. William J. Darby)

Dr. Daniel McPhail was born in 7Inyerness, Scotland,/in 1799, emigrated, to American in.,11328, and ,-settlqd.,in, Franklin";;rTennessee,

Williamson County,AWhererthe name McPhailcsoon aqquirqd. cpnsiderable promineneeiN.,.,, f V";'

...On October 11 j 1B,31; Dr. McPhail TOarried Sarah Whit£ield,.:^'the daug.hter of. Wilkins and Mary-St.urdlv.anfc.WhitBield,' who. came to this yincinity from . Sussex Country ,. Pprginiaj. around .1806,. they . haying..;;; ; married tdiere in .ISOl. .c-;;-;.

Dr., McPha^l. had a commanding,.appearance, iwas. well edu.cated.,;.;and made, an .ejxcellent, surgeon.,,, He wa,s especially.:..deyoted.■to- this:j.2d:epa.rit- ment . of. medtcipe. .. It is- said,.r.though not actually -proyen:, that fbhe-- first anesthetic succes.,sfu.lly:.used.., in,.Middle Tennessee was. adtnin.i;s.t,ered by,Dr. McPhail,in -.the,ismall..brick, .office building, located on East Main

Street, .Franklin,.-within^ sight p£ .the Square,; when" he treated a: man for gunshot wounds. r-v ;

Little,, of.iFranklip's long: and. eventful history hag. escaped ■ , ... this .little, building,. -.Designated as No.. 69 in the; original plan of; the town of .Franklin,.-, the-r.lot .was..; first .;Sold by Abram Maury to. John

Gordpn|-in 1802* -. It passed, rspidly.ihrpugh a .number-of .hands'; Dr.

Daniel,,McPhail ..bought.,a:;part, of-.Lot; 69 rfrom Benjamin S. Tappan and ..

Charles. C. .Hardy, in .1839. " The deed describes • the, .site as "frohtirig '

60 feet, on Main Street -..adjoining, the .prop.erty of the.iheirsiOf . ,

Charles .McAliSjter on.-the o,ne:,side .apd Dani-ql-.MePihai.-l, ..Qn the other;- :- the house thereon being the same which McPhail and (Isaac) English

89. formerly occupied as a drug store". In 1844 Dr. McPhail bought

English's half of the lot, . Since he had bought Lot 57 in 1837, he

then owned the office on East Main.Street and the corner around

Cameron Street to'include the CliffehhouaewMhihhsStood:'at;;fehat loca tion,pntil the,^all.of 1973., ^ ,,,, , y

This , off i,9e-wa.s,also ,ysed, by Dr,, Daniel .B..,Cliffe, an early physician,,, nep.hew of. D?. paniel.jMcPhail. In 1836 this., boy., o,f .thlrr.:

teen came from Chio to be near his uncle and to read medicine under. Dr. :]^cPhail's guida.nce. At Dr. ^ McPhail' g, death. Dr. Cliffe, inherited

part of his, uncle's estate through terms of a partnership agreement. Other property he.bought fj^om Dr. McPhail's widow, who by.that time,

1849, had married James Nichols and moved out of the county. Dr.

piiffe lived ipthe house where his grandson, Joseph E. Cliffe,

resided, in,recent memory.and used the adjoining ,office in, the side

yard tp see his .patients. On November 15, 1842, Dr. Cliffe married

..Virginia .Whitfield, Mrs. McPhail's youngest sister,

., The building , ser-ved briefly as Union .headquarters on the morning

of the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864. The .Henderson.law

offices were located there.'ifrom 1931 until 1965. In ,1972 it was

leased by Mrs. Josephine Cliffe Fleming to the Harpeth National Bank.

The Bank in turn, leased it to tha .William.son County Heritage .Founda tion under whose d.irection extensive restpratjion w^s, completed „in

April of 1974,. Mrs. Fleming stipulated when her family, homeplace was to become the location, for, the new bank facilities that the ^

McPhail office be saved and..leased to the.. Foundation for a nomina,!,,;. fee. On May 1st, 1.974, .the little office was opened as a. Tourist

Information Center under the auspices of the Heritage Foundation.,

90. Mts'-; Fieming also 'ioatieid't!r J ^MdPhdi'l'^s - ae'sk "to'the'information Center where'it is on'display ahB'-'in'ccnstarii; usgo/ ' oh'June •4'/' 1^46^ 'DrV 'Daniel-IfcPh'Wil''was appoirited surgeon''o'£' the

■pits't. Tennessee'Regliiient Infantry' in the^'fexlcan War - and- 'die'd'at Itota- moras j Mexico, July l3, ' 1346-, A dionUmerit'ih'Old- C-i'ty'Cetn'etery-in -

Franklin mark's his fihal resting place;; < ■ -■' ■ ■ --in'researching-Itiforniatibh for thi's article"-!-''^ found in-'the' flTes

of the Tennesaee Archive's a' -folder p-rep'afM'by'Mrs-i'liafy'Bfitt'-i; --Secre tary, U.D,C., Ko. 14, 1931, Franklin-, Tdn-nes'S'i^e-^ 'a hand-'-'vreltt'eh letter to a'Mr. Jo"'D, Brox^r.e in NAshville, vrcitten from" Franki'in'i-'fe'nnessee, January-' 21-^ 1946 ; 'The - las't p'age-of ■ the let'-fer vrdn missing, '&6'-'"there

wa&'ho-'''signatii're. Although TAdo not know'who'Mr; Brown w'As j-'or'lA,' or

who wrote the letter,' it-reads- as' folic-^v-s; ' '' ' ' '-^ ' ''■

' - - ■ Fra'fA5:ll'n-if'T'6nnesse''e'J' January 21, 1946

Mro J. Do Bro-i-jne My'dear 'Sir - - ''- ■ ' ' '

I sav7 the picture and -.':aad the article-'d'ri' 'the old brick''off ice- built by Dr, Daniel McPhailo Dr, McPhail was born in (Glasco, Scotland, in 18i-4')'?"he came'to'America in 'IB-.IS'-and settled in Fra'nkiin," Tennessee, and buil-fi-the office and practiced medicine here in Franklin until he wehl'-' -'int'o t'he- Msican-'VJar: in 1846' with; tlie'-Fi-tst- T'e'hhensee •CampbeTl.'''B old regiment — he died while surgeon to the Tennessee volunteers.

His body was brought back to Franklin and interred with Masonic service Dec; '■ 2'7," 1347'--' 'ne was'burled 'iT.ithe' old'cemetet'y;

' ■ 'His sis't-ef' Mrs o fsdhell McP'hai-1-'Gllffa (Smith) the'- 'cio'thef 'df'Df. D. Bo.Cliffe, Sr., in buried by his side, Angus McPhail, my great grandfather, was Dr. McPhail's and Mrs. Smith-' s 'ud'c'le-; • He'- came to' AiT'.erichh'''froni ' Inv-edhessI'-S'cdtlandy'- i'n.'1799, born January 1, 1774-don't knov? vjhen he la-ndsd at Franklin, Tennessee. 'Hd teas'ahbut'22 years old, ' 'He had-'J- 'mirteif tefed-''h4v'£f' iarr-ied''thdy- never left Scotland. Angus McPhail died in Washington County, Texas, Ndteembef 21, ' I86I0 • " ' ' '" ■ ' ''t'" ' ' ' ' In-an'excerpt" frCifa thi'TehnC'ofeG'I'fedf'cal 'S'c)c^h>y^ of'1841

there is the following; "The Tennessee Medical Society met May 3, 1841,

91 '■ £ri'' NaVhvil-le.' ■ Thirty-two 'members were present The. Pre,sident,.,.,Dr ^

Hogg, delivered the annual address. Dr. ;Daniel McPhail of Franklin ' " read a paper on the . 'Medical Topography, qf Middle Tennessee..".'

■ ■■■' The cause of the Mexican War Was ;the revolt . of Texas, from„Mexico

and'the subsequent ■annexation of. that State to the. Union in 18^.5.

Not only had Texas revolted, but she claimed and carried into, the '"Unibh with her a far more: extended territory.than had been.accorded

■- in-the'original Mexican arrangements'. • Th.e. War officially-tended in

' '1848'by-the treaty of Guadalupe, ' ' , ■, , . ■ .

■ Events which led to "this war were largely due to the spirit of

adventure and military-prowess of citizens like those of Tennessee. Hoistiiities having been anticipated many companies had. been organi

zed in Tennessee, and when Governor Aaron V. -Brown issued his .call

for two regiments of infantry and one of cavalry, amounting in all

to 2800 volunteers, such was the military spirit of the volunteer

State that over 30,000 of her citizens applied to be,received into

■ the service. Two companies from Davidson County were accepted on . account of their previous organization and excellence, in, drill., .,

' These were the-Nashville Blues', commanded by Captain B. I*. Che.atham,

and the Harrison Guards, commanded by Captain Robert C. Foster

(3rd.)-. These companies entered the First Tennes:see, Regiment,

which rehdezvoued at the Nashville race course, ;and-organized on the 3r.d. day of June, 1846, by the election of Captain William'B. Campbell, of Smith County, Colonel; Captain Samuel R. Anderson, of

.Sumrier, Lieutenant-Colonel; Richard Alexander, of Smith, first-Major;

and Robert Farquharson, of Lincoln, second Major; • First Lieutenant

'■ Adolphus Human, of--the Harrison Guards, was appointed Adjutant; Dr.

92 Daniel McPhail, of Franklin, Williamson County, Surgeon; and W. D.

Dorris, assistant Surgeon.

93 , , , AB^M POINpEXTER MURY

By: Miss Mary Trim Anderson

We are beholden to this man as being reiAponsible 'ior laying out

the town of Franklin, the county seat, 180 year's agov ' • •

It was in 1797 at the age of thirty-one that Abram Maury cania' with

his wife, Martha, and their two childfeii (they later had'thfae more)

to what was then Davidson County, Tennessee.' From Anthony Sharpd^- the holder of some thirty-eight hundred acres, Maufy bought sik'hundred forty acres of land along the Harpeth (written "Harpath" in the early records). Here he built his home, which he called Poplar Grove and later. Tree Lawn.

The next year, even before the county of Williamson was created, Maury laid out a portion of his farm to become a' toWn. He wanted, in cidentally, to name it Marthasville, for his wifej but because she objected so adamantly it was named for Ben Frahklin. He marked' off a square of sixteen poles, or one and three-fifths 'acres,'whete ^a' d'ourt house was to be built; north-south streets four poles'wide'and east- west streets three poles wide except for Main, which was four; and one hundred ninety-two lots, which he sold for ten dollars each. The square, the streets within the town, half of each street around the town and a lot for a church were donated by Maury; the other half of the streets surrounding the town were to be donated' by the- pur chasers of the lots. He is said to have realized about two thousand dollars from his venture arid had five hundred fifty-one acres left.

The entire six hundred forty had cost'him fifteen hundred dollars.

In the meantime the county was created; arid'in the same yriar,

1799, the town of Franklin was recognized by 'the Generail Assembly,

■95 . •■ sitting in Knoxville, and Maury was appointed one of its five com missioners. Deeds for the first'two lots are recorded in Davidson County; the first inWlliamsoh, dated February 4, 1800, was for

Lot 128 on the north side of Main Street, the lot being soldrto

A. M. Legate (Liggitt). This lot was not used fqr .business, howev^er, businesses being located on East Margin and Bridge Streets. Maury became a prosperous farmer but also tried his hand at law and civil engineering. In 1805 he was elected to represent WLlliam- son, Davidson, and Rutherford Counties in.the Senate of .the Sixth General Assembly. He served later in the House in 1819 but resigned, having been named by the Assembly to a "commission of three/to .super intend the sales of land lately acquired by treaty from the Chickasaw tribe of Indians." -j Abram Maury was one of the earliest .supporters of education-:,in; our area. He erected a building on his prqper.jty and. set up a schq;ql and employed teachers for his own and neighboring .children."-He .was; well enough'sChDugb£..'.n£ that in 1807, when, a new county .was created from Williamson which had extended to the Alabama line it was nam.ed-, for him. He was also one of only one hundred thirty-eight persons ,;.; in the county affected by a special tax leyie^..to pay. off the debtuOf the War of 1812, For a silver watch one paid;.>a..tax of one. dollars:;.;; for a gold watch, two dollars; and for two hundred dollars worth of. furniture exclusive of beds, kitchen wares and family pictures5,,Dne dollars. Maury paid his tax for $225 worth of furniture. The. entire county hielded taxes of one hundred thirty-eight.dollars. Abram Maury died on. J.anuary 2, 1825, and was .buried in the family cemetery at his home (on the present Del..Rio Pike).. At a public meet ing citizens voted to wear mourning bands, for thirty days .to..show?their respect for him. 96 MATTHEW , FONTAINE. MAURY • ■ . n-- -

By_;, Miss Mary TrimiApcierso.n . i.' ■

Every captain who steers his ship along the "rivers" in the ocean,

every farmer who listens anxiously to a weather forecast, every Navy pilot who reAds his 'chart (''founded upon researches made by Matthew . ;. , , -j- tr. Fontaine Maury," it reads') owes a debt to a man who spent most of his . . ■ • j y'outh and received all his formal education in Williamson County.

This' remarkable man, one of the most neglected in our praise of

great Americans, studied and wrote about ocean currents, tides, depths,

salinity,'temperature, winds. He urged the weather service to learn to

predict as well as report weather. He helped make possible the explora

tion of the Artie and the Antarctic as well as the laying of the Atlantic

Cable. At an international scientific conference at Brussels in 1853,

he was the leading spirit and delivered a lecture in French - which he

had taught himself while recuperating from an injury. For his work at

this conference he received honors from fifty learned societies, many

universities, nine'European kings and emperors, and Pope Pius IX. During

the Civil War he devised torpedoes for the defence of Southern ports and aftd'r the war offered a plan for rebuilding the South. Finally he served'as pfofhssor physics at Virginia Military Institute.

In fhe meantime, he wrote numerous books and treatises on oceano graphy, branSpoirfeatidhj fneterdlogy, astronomy, hydrography, navigation, naval reform, geography, and education.

But biford'all this Matthew Maury was a Williamson Countian. In

1810, at the age'"of four, he made the seven-hundred-mile journey with_ his family along 'the wilderness Road to Franklin to settle near his

97, ., 1 : r: ; father's cousin, Abram Maury. At first Richard Maury rented land from

Alenxander Ewing,- land now known as Ewingville Subdivision. Then he bought for one thousand/dollars^ tWo' hundted acres southwest of Franklin on the road connecting-Boyd's Mill and Laiper's Fork, Instead of tobacco, Richard raised cotton, and he needed his sons to help him.

Young Matt, as he became older, wanted desperately to join his brother Dick at school. The "x's" and "y's" he found on the shoe

leather that the local cobbler used to half-sole the family's shoes fascinated him, and he wanted to learn what they meant. Finally, after a fall from a tree rendered him useless for farm work, his father per mitted him to enroll at school. At Harpeth Academy he had, successfully, three excellent teachers. One, James Otey, said that he "marched through Latin in seven-league boots in only seven days." With equal

aeiarity he tackled other.subjects, some of which would be college-

level study today. , ,

At his cousin Abram's home he was introduced to both books and

people that were a delight to him. One of the latter, Sam Houston,

helped him obtain a warrant in the Navy to become a midshipman. In

spite of his father's bitter opposition and a complete lack of funds,

he made plans to set out for Washington. For transportation he bought

a horse with only the promise to pay when he sold the animal upon ar-

rival at his destination, and his only money for food and lodging was thirty-dollars his teacher, William Hasbrouck, was able to get for him

as compensation for tutoring he had done.

His career in the Navy began with assignment to the Brandywine,

which on its maiden voyage was taking the Marquis de Lafayette home to

France after a visit to America. From midshipman he rose eventually to the superintendency of the United States Naval Observatory and^ a^l

the accomplishments alluded to above.

98 Throughout his life the deep religious devotion passed down from his Huguenot ancestors was evident in his life, along with many fine qualities from both sides of his family.

99 COLONEL HARDY MURFREE

By; Elva Mayo Darby; (Mrs. William J. Darby)

Lieutenant-Colonel Hardy Murfree was an officer of distinguished

North Carolina ancestry in the Continental Army who. settled in Tennessee

in 1807 and became a large landholder, and for whom, the town of. Mur-

freesboro, Tennessee, was named.

In October of 1798 Ezekial White of Bertie County, North Carolina,

a private in the Continental line, sold 274 acres of land, in Davison

(now Rutherford) County, Tennessee, on the waters of Stone's River,

(a tract granted to him on March 7, 1786, as a Revolutionary War. soldier)

to Lieutenant-Colonel Hardy Murfree, of Hertford County, North,Carlina,

under whom he had served, during the Revolution.: Colonel Murfree had

been an officer'in the'Revolution and prominent in the politipal. affairs

of the'state thereafter serving in both the Legislature .and,the Consti

tutional Convention.

Colonel Murfree was born in Hertford County, North Carlina, on

June 5, 1752, son of William and Mary Murfree. He was married on

February 17, 1780, to Sarah Brickell, daughter of Matthiaa and Rachel

Noailles Brickell, of' Hertford County. Hardy and Sarah Murfree ,were

the parents of ten children.

Soon after the close of the Revolutionary War Colonel Murfree

visited Tennessee and began buying tracts of land in the present

" Williamson, Rutherford, and Bedford Counties. He received over 6000

acres of land for his own services in the war, and through purchases of

warrants and grants of other soldiers, suchas that of Ezekial White s

fhe purchase price' of that being 100, he eventually owned over-40,000

acres of land in Tennessee. 101 After the death of his wife In 1802 Kardy Murfree remained at

his home in Murfreesboro. North Carolinaj. (.named for his parents),

for five years, and then, in 1807, he removed to Tennessee and

settled on his plantation at "Murfree's Fork", a branch of the West

Harpeth River in Williamson County; ,t

While he was still living in North Carolina, iln, 1804., Gplqnel

Murfree registered the land which he bought of Ez.ekial White, The fact that neither the original grant of T786 nor.: the. transfer to,Murfree of 1798'was'recorded in Tennessee until .1804 is indicative .t:|iat the

land was not actually occupied until some-later .date......

Colonel Murfree died in Williamson .'CQunty-, Tennessee,, ne^r wood, on April 6, 1809', on the plantation that he settled and. where

some of his children'were living, also, at the/time..of his death,

The town'of MAffrcesbbrO, Tennessee, was named for Colonel Hardy Murfree at the fequest of'hi-s''friend,. Captain;VJillinmyljytlp, A legis

*■ J. lative act h'ad specified that'the .site ■ for • the F.utherfQr.d, Copnty seat

be named Cannonsburg, in honor of Newton Cannon of, Williamson County, later a governor. However, Captain L'ytle, who had donated 60 acres upon which to erect a Cdurthouse, su'ggested that the town be named for his former friend', 'Colonel'Hardy Murfree, whc had recently died.

V; . . . . , ; His request was granted, and' the legislature passed, another a.ct.-naming

the town Murfreesborough, the spelling of'which was changed aftpr the

Civil War. ■ .■ . ;

In addition to his vast holdings"of-land and ..properties,, ^-Colonel

Murfree left posterity with something-far ' more,-valuable. His vgreat- granddaughter vja.s Mary Noailles Murfree, known for yeqrs in literary circles by her pseudonym of Charles'-SgbGrt Craddock, was .respp.nsible for the authorship of some'iwenty-five books over her,.,long writing

102 ' ■ ■ ' ' ■ " career. Her works centered around the rugged mountain peoples of

Tennessee. She was the daughter of William Murfree, a latayer who had

plantations in Tennessee and Mississippi.

When Colonel Murfree died intestate in 1809 his land holdings were

so extensive that the Tennessee legislature passed an act, in 1812, empowering the Court of Williamson County to appoint seven commissioners

to make an equitable distribution of his lands among the several heirs.

In its report to the Court, on December 14, 1814, the Commissioners included the Ezekial White tract in the considerable portions allotted to one of Murfree's daughters, Sarah Hardy, who had sortly before mar ried Dr. James Maney. Also listed in the Tax Book I, Williamson County,

1800-1813, to Hardy Murfree are; 5000 acres. Continental line near crossing; 6400 acres, Murfree's Fork of West Harpeth; 768 acres,

Stewart Creek; and 960 acres, Harpeth.

Colonel Hardy Murfree's grave is in the family cemetery on the

Jim Cannon farm in the fourth district, near Burwood. This land was originally a land grant to Colonel Murfree for his services in the

Revolution. He was buried grandly with Masonic honors, hundreds at tending the interment, and Judge Felix Grundy of Nashville delivered an eloquent address. That burial was talked about for more than a quarter of a century afterwards -- "so grand and imposing the ceremonies, so great the number that witnessed it."

103 BISHOP'JAMES HERVEY OTEY .

By: Jpe Baugh

In Jesus' parable of the talents, three men were given money. One

;...,man, was given five talents. One man was given two talents and. one.(man

was given one talent. The word "talent'' was brigihally:. meant, ,tp-express

a measure of weight. Later, the word came to denote a fixed amount, of

i silver or gold. Our use of the word "talent" derived from this .para-

■ able,., . , ■ .

The history of Middle Tennessee arid Franklin in particular,, is

filled with accounts of men who took their talerits and did something

with them. Other areas of this United States furnished.';thes.e men, for

.. -pne, reason or another, and in turn this area passed on the talents of

these men, multiplied many times, to other parts of this country,of

ours. One such man was James Hervey Otriy.'

Otey.was in the line of two distinguished families. His father,

Isaac Otey, served for thirty years in the State Legislature of

Virginia and was descended from Sir John Pettus, a member of Parlia

ment and one of the founders of the Virginia colony. His mother,

Betty Matthews, was of the family of Tobias Matthews, who, at the turn

of the seventeenth century, was Bishop of Durham and later Archbishop

' ' '• 'S:' of York. Young Otey, the younger son in a family'of twelve.children,

. p.y?as born in Bedford County, Virginia, January 27, 1800. He attended

schools in the area and at 16 years of age was sent to the University

. . .of North Carolina where he graduated in 1820. While at the University

■ - he, lived with the Pannill family arid oh October 18, 1821, he married i . . .|.^... ia .daughter of this family, Eliza. He taught for a short while at the

.,,105 University until after careful examination of the "Book of Common Prayer," which he used for the daily opening service, he was led to give his life to the Church, But this had to wait for a short while.

For some unknown reason he and his wife moved to Franklin, Tennessee,

This country was at fir^t populated by younger sons■from, families in Europe, In like manner, the migration to•the west iri this country was carried out in great part by younger sonsi It is quite possible that such was the case with the' young.Otey family. In any event, James arrived in Franklin and'started .teaching at Ha.rpeth .Academy, a school located about one mile north of the city. From the school s proximity to the Harpeth River', ' it derived its name. In 1821.,.^he succeeded the

Rev, Gideon Blackbiirh, •the founder of the school as. headmaster.,. During the next'five years, Otey taught,.schpo.l-,primarily, He was ordained Deacon on October 10, 1825, and ordained to the priest hood on June 7, 18'27, That same year,- on August .25,^ the Reverend Otey organized St. Paul's church in the. Masonic Hall in.Franklin. On June 28", 1831, the corner stone of the present St. P.aul's church was laid! On Jutid 27, 1833, when Otey was almost thirty-four ,yeps of age, he was elected as the first Bishop of .Tennessee, and. the follow ing January 14 was consecrated in Christ, Church, Philadelphia, as the 30th Bishop' in the American line. In addition to,his own diocese. Bishop Otey served 'for several year? ;as Provincia!^, Bishop pf Mississ sippi and Flofida 'and as Missionary,-Bishop. of. Arkansas, .Loui,^iana and the Indian Territories,' where he coyered ove^ four thousand miles on

horseback, - . In 1836, Bishop Otey started to work for the establishment of a University fo'^r the Southern states, but this was not realized until July 4, 1857, 'wheri the-University of the South at Sewanne vjas formally

106 organized. A board of trustees was appointed and Bishop Otey was elected president. A site was obtained and a corner stone was laid but the war stopped everything until 1868.

During the Civil War, Bishop Otey was strenously opposed to both war and disunion, if both could be avoided without compromising the honor and safety of the South. When he saw that war was inevitable, he, like many other leaders in the South, nerved himself for the conflict. The war, no doubt, shortened his life, for he died on April 23, 1863, at 63 years old. He is buried at St. John's near Columbia, Tennessee.

James Hervey Otey was no one talent man.

107 NICHOLAS "BIGBEE". PERKINS

By: Miss Mary Trim. Anderson

The Perkins family is noted for the numbet of' members of this family who migrated to Williamson County, fot" the'prominent.part..many of them played..in the economic, social arid political• life .of the^area; and for the many beautiful homes they built in the- area:, i most o.£.,vhich are still standing. ' ' ' ' ' ,,r : One member.of this family was known as Nicholas "Bigbee" Perkins, the .I'Bigbee" being the name he adopted" to distingiiisy him. frop pis cousin, brother-in-law and neighbor, Nicholas TMte .Perkins..;:. He. tpok the name from ..the.Tombigbee River in the Mississippi Territory,..where he. was sent by President Jefferson in 1805 to'serve as R.egister pf

Lands and where he acquired land holdings himself. ' ' Perkins, born in Pittsylvania County,' Virginia,- in .177.9,, came to this area, along with several relatives, in the very early years of Williamson County and acquired large holdings along the Harpeth, in the present Forest .Home area. His primary interests seem to have been those of a prosperous planter -- he owned twelve thousand acres of land -- although he did practice law and engage in politics.

It was while still in his twenties and before he assumed the cares of a family that some of his activities brought him to the attention of President Jefferson, who sent him to the Mississippi Territory (presently the state of Alabama), where he had perhaps the most exciting experience of his life. While at a game of backgammon one night, so the story goes, he and a companion were asked directions of two strangers who stopped at

their cabin. After the travelers had gone, Perkins realized that one of the men was Aaron Burr. At that time Burr was under suspicion of treason,

109 and there was a two-thousand-dollar reward for his arrest. Perkins set out immediately to,"See, Lt, Edmund Gainesr-at Fort Stoddard, and the two proceeded to capture.Burr. .Perkins asked for the privilege of escorting him to the President, and it was granted him. The very risky and dangerous mission was accomplished, and Perkins received not $2,000 but, to his surprise, $3,311, a sizable amount in those days. He returned to the Territory and soon afterwards to his home in Williamson County. In 1808 he married his cousin, Mary O'Neal Harden Perkins -- he was twenty-nine and she, fourteen. In 1821 and 1822 he built his home, Montpier, one of the most beautiful homes on the Natchez Trace. He and his wife had twelve children. He served in the Senate of the Tennessee General Assembly of 1815-1817 and again of 1841-1843, this time in the House. He was one of six of the Perkins family to serve in this body. Nicholas, his wife and some of his children are burie'd in the family graveyard on what was their land, just off the present High way 96-W but several miles from Montpier; so vast were his holdings. Montpier is now the home of Mr. and Mrs, Joseph Dickinson.

110' . PIONEER WOMEN IN WILLIAMSON COUNTY

By: . Virginia McDaniel Bowman (Mrs. Joe Bowman)

^ ' ■ While''much has been said aboiit pioneers to the section of Tennessee

, that .becJame Williamson County, not much attention has been given to the

wives," mothers, and daughters of those early settlers. In those days

women were often overshadowed by men. While women owned property,

.. they very seldom left wills, and few letters or diaries have been pre-

served to give us a clue' to their personalities.

But for every step the frontiersman took, some' valiant woman was

by: his side; for'every hazard he encountered she was there to mould

. bullets, fire a musket, ot rush at an Indian with whatever weapon she

coiild xotiimand even though she might pay'for such courage with her life,

■ for Indians: did not spate Woraett'And'chiidre'h'when they were lon the war

path.'

^ ;.:M days 'in Tenhes's'ee'e'veh the' most o'rdihary chore

icouldi ptover to-be a perilous undertakihg^'for a woman - a trip'to the

'■spring, milking the cow, stirring clothes in the washpot or dipping

candles could end in death for the unwary. A silent Indian with up

raised ■ tomahawk was often the last sight their eyes beheld and anguish

over unprotected children in the cabin their last thought. Still they

came with their men, leaving safe homes back east for lonely cabins in

a hostile land and dangers beyond our imagination.

It was necessary for settlers who owned grants of land some eighteen

. .. miles- south of Nashville in the 1790's to delay moving to their land

until :a'■.treaty cduTd be'made with the Indians' north of Duck River.

When that agreement was' reached'early in 1798 four families made . .-

I®. •• ^-r t-- jll ^ '.-'d immediate preparation to leave the safety of Nashville forts and move

to the wilderness in what is now Williamson County.

The first white woman to cross the Harpeth'River build a fire on

her hearth, and spend the night in this vicihity was Rebecca Green Neely:,,7who came here on March 12, 1798, with her husband, George Neely,

.ahRevQiationary patriot, and their son James. The Neely's log,home

stood on .the southern outskirts of present-day Franklih-before .the.,to^n

was even thought of, let alone named. Rebecca Meely died in- 1824 at.-,.the age of. sixty-eight. She was buried in the family cemetery which is all

that remains to mark the site of the Neely home on the east side of ; ■

Columbia.Pike.

On March 14th, Gracy Williams Goff, with her husband and six children, followed the trail made two days previously into this.; .section

. by the Neelys. When the Goffs built their log home in the shadowrof • Roper's Knob, they ended a long journey begun years before when;.they first moved out along the Holston River. Thfe last part. oif ; the.;way they traveled in company with the McEwens, but they were delayed; for long periods of time because of Indian uprisings."" Andrew Gofif had

brought his family to Tennessee to take up a Revolutionary grant of

-:6^0,-;acres.. -

Mrs, Goff was the first member to enroll at the old McGonnico Primitive .Baptist Church in 1800. When he preached her funeral, forty-

seven years.later, Elder Jesse Cox made mention of her having pioneered

to this county when it was nothing but wilderness. Mrs. Goff survived her. husband sixteen years and outlived ail of her children' except two.

,;r r . On. March .16th, two days after the Goffs left Nashville,'Margaret .I-ryin (Mrs. David) McEwen and Sara Kerr (Mrs. William) McEwen helped

load tl^eir possessions on oxcarts and pack-horses fof-'the last time

112" ' ■ and started with their families for their newly raised cabins on

Spencer's Creek.' '

No doubt Mai;garet McEwen's heart was heavy as she covered the-

last weary miles.' 'Within five weeks of their"arrival-hhre fourteen-

year-old Jane McEwe'n died and the site for the historic McEweri

cemetery at Sprihgland was chosen on that April day one hundred'atifd seventy-eight yearis ago. Nine' of Margaret McEwen's'' elevhh'' cH'Hdreh

live^d to ad'ulthoo'd.' She died in 1822,' a' shbr't 'titte' after'-herl'husbhnd, but before his' estat'e, of which she was chief bdtieficiary, was settled. Little is known of Sa'rah Kerf kcEwen' save that she died' in' 1847, according to the MR roster'arid waf burled at Sptingland also.

Mary Ca'mefori came' to the Wllliarfisbh area in 1798 with her husband and children. A note on Ewin Carderon's tombstdne in Old City Cemetery

states that "he built the first house in Franklin in 1798." The ''

Cameron's we're headed for Nashville when their Wagon broke''down'at' the present site of Frahkiin. Finding the fine' spririgs' arid iush meadows to their iiki'ng, they settled here with not a neighbor' iri Sighti

The location Of Mary'Cameron's home cari be' determined by the fact that the Masonic Hall is'known to ha-ve beeti built across the'street irom it. In his 'writings John B. McKwen stated'that he bdught the old two-story, double log house of Ewiri'Camerdri and tdre' it down. Mary

Cameron died'in 1845,' one year before her husband'S death. -''- * ' Margaret Nelson Sharpe lived two miles -West of Franklin offSoyd's Mill Pike on part of Her Hu'sbatid's large Refolutloriar^ '^fant. After Major Anthony'SHafpe'died in 1812, Margaret' Sharpe'hiarr'ied 'another

Revolutionary veteran^ "CeOr^e Hiilme. Peggy Sharpe Hulme'died about

1846 leaving a number of children surviving her.

113. Martha Worsham Maury lived at Tree Lawn on Del Rio Pikev .On

land bought from Major Sharpe her husband, Abram Mapry, laid out the

town of Franklin. During a long illness after her arrival here,

Indians would stand in her room, gazing in fascination at the white

woman lying in bed. Evidently Indian women were afforded np such

luxury, but were expected by their braves to endure illnesses in

silence and on their feet until death relieved them of their suf

fering. Martha Maury died in 1811. She is buried in.the Maury

cemetery at the former site of Tree Lawn.

Sallie Elliott Crockett was a pioneer woman to the Brentwood

area. In 1799 she and her husband, Andrew Crockett, built their

log home which still stands on Wilson Pike. It is said that Sallie

Crockett would take her spinning wheel to the field to be near her

husband while he, worked. As she spun, the whirring of the wheel

would attract rattlesnakes from the heavy underbrowth. Sallie and

Andrew Crockett died one month apart in 1821. They are buried in

one of the two rock-walled cemeteries north of Forge Seat.

The list of pioneer women in Williamson County, if all their names were but known, would fill a long roll of honor. Mary.O'Nea|.

Perkins of Meeting of the Waters, Mary Tate Perkins of Poplar Grove

(now Two Rivers), Bethenia Perkins Sneed of Brentwood, Susan Perkins

Hardeman of Sugar Hill, Mary White Giddens of Thompson Station!^

Sarah Cantrell Nolen and Martha Christmas Green of Nolensvillp, Sally

Wood Jordan, Margaret Wilson Patton, Mary Sumner, Letitia Thompsoin,,

Cannon, and Mary Jarvis Bostick, all of Triune, Mary Harris Ogilvie.

of College Grove, Nancy Ogilvie Allison of Allisona, and Sarah

Prowell Thompson of White Oak were but a few of the noble women

whose hands and intellects helped to shape our destiny.

114 Most of these ladies had daughters, some of whom were grown when they arrived here, who also must be counted as pioneer women. They had not been here long before they were joined by an influx of immigrants, coming as they had done, to settle in a new land. In wagons, in carts, on horseback, on foot and eventually in carriages they came with their husbands, children, servants, and a few possessions. Often the straight- back chair by their hearth was the very one the wife and mother had held her baby in as the wagon lurched over the tortuous wilderness trails from the Home State of Tennessee.

These women's husbands were not adventurers or landgrabbers out for gain. They came to take up grants or buy good land with the idea of remaining on it the rest of their lives. This they did as the many pioneer cemeteries over the county prove. Here those early women yearned sadly over graves, softening the bare ground with a covering of vinca and wild flowers brought from shaded woodlands. Then in time they too lay down to rest wi>thrtheir loved ones, until none was left to tell of the first lonely nights when wolves howled at the forest's edge and Indians disappeared into morning mists, none to tell of the hopes and fears their hearts carried the weary miles from the old home to the new, or the triumphs and sorrows the years wrought. With the passing of the last one of them an era in our history ended, but in this Bi-centennial year we reach back in time to touch hands in spirit with those gallant matriarchs whose deeds,

whether humble or noteworthy, we wish to honor.

115 i DICK POYNOR, Masti'er Ofaftsman

■ By: 'Richard' Warwick

Williamson County has been bequeathed much in the way of history, charm,

and. tradition. One contribu-

t±dn'" the community of Leiper's

iFffrlr can claim to this heri

tage is an elegant piece of

furniture known as the Dick

Poynor chair. This sturdy mas

terpiece has graced our country's

kitchens for over one hundred Dick Poynor Chair and twenty-five years.

Little can be found about Richard Poynor's early life. It is presumed

that he came to Williamson County with the Robert Poynor family in the 1820's.

Richard was born in Virginia in 1802. According to the U. S. Census of 1860,

he is listed as a chairmaker - a free mulatto with $75 in land and $750 in

personal property. His farm and chair-factory shed were located between

Pinewood Road and Garrison Road near the Harold Meacham Farm. In 1878 at the age of eighty, his wife, Millie Poynor died. At the age of 83, Dick died in 1885. Richard and Millie must have been regarded as genuine mem bers of the Poynor family for they are buried with the family in the

Garrison Methodist Church cemetery.

The construction of Poynor's works of art was simple. His mule-

powered turning lathe, handsaw, brace and bit, and wood from the sugar maple and hictory were all that were needed. Newly cut maple was used for

posts, and cured hickory was used for the rungs. Using only two wooden pegs ^nd the knowledge that wood shrinks as it dried out, Poynor produced

117 ^ tnasterpiece« Ths chair's simple design and graceful arched back of golden maple with woven hickory bottom help explain why the Dick Roynor chair has become a treasured possession for all who own one.

118 DR. J.OHN., SAPPINGTON

By: Glenn I. Johnson

John Sappington was born

May 15, 1776, in Havre De Grace,

Maryland, son of Dr. Mark Sappington

and Rebecca Boyce Sappington,

In 1785, when John was nine

years old, his family moved to Nash ville, Tennessee, and settled on a

farm nearby. Nashville was a small

frontier town, with rough buildings

and few business establishments.

The Sappington family was a decided

asset to the area, as "Men-of-

H Medicine" were few in number at this

time in the history of our capitol

city. The picture of Dr. John Sappington is frbm a'^hotbgraph of a painting Indications are that Dr. Mark by George C. Bingham made in the 'V "V '.-l.--.. . late 1840's. Sappington had a good medical library, and son John at a young age; began to study medicine. His brothers, Roger,

Thdmasj.'Wiiliami.phd .Frahk, also studied with their father, as this was the universally accepted method of acquiring a medical education in these early days. It was with a great sense of satisfaction that Dr. Mark Sappington could remark to his friends; "I have fi.ve. sons who have studied medicine under my watchful eye.and,I am proud .of each one."

On November 22, 1884, John Sappington married Jane Breathitt of Russell- ville, Kentucky and brought his bride to Franklin, Tennessee. He purchased

119 Township Lot 103, now located,;pff the; public Square on Third Avenue,

North. ,

Along with his lucrative practice of medicine. Dr. Sappington

: had. a part-, in :,t,he.. ciyic affairs of the area, as he and Thomas Hart

•r.Benton W:er.p.; ainong.[ the.! commissioners to help survey and lay out the

town of.'Frhnklin., ■ In[ ISO^S Dr. Sappington was appointed a trustee in

. the-formation ;of the widely known Harpeth Academy.

Sappington, pra.c.ticed in Franklin until 1817 when he emigrated to

Missouri. His good friend Thomas Hart Benton had preceded him to the

territory,..and .it is, generally conceded that Benton had a part in

.this;;move.:-;-.

, He ;first.rlocate,d.j in-!Howard County near the present town of Glas-

gow.;;]; In 1819.;ho.,moved t.o a tract of land near the Arrow Rock Ferry;

•this settlement :WaS::t.o become known as the "Sappington Settlement."

-;i - ■■ ■ A- great number.:of families settled here because of the great

X need of the medical, skills of Dr. Sappington.

iThe f inhabitants: o£ .this area of the country along the Mississippi

River, into the Missouri., Valley, and westward to California were

, . plagued with the. ever recurring diseasei:.©! ague (malaria.) < , Dr.: .

■ Sappington had studied, this disease and prescribed the "Cinchona Bark,"

untiL'the. ; essence ,of: the barkj namely quinine, ■became available . to-.him

:• after..; it waa.^.first fmanufactured; intthisi country :in :.Phi.la.d.elphia.',in-I

.:18.2Q.,', !: ,. ■.■ Lf- r., .' ; ■ ■ - ■ ■

In-.;.i832i!..he: bega:n- th.ei wholesale manufa.Ct¥re.r. of;; ",Dr John Sapping-

./i.i ton's .Anti.tFever.:;Pills," ^The. demand for thisi item-became-.;;SG great hhat

most wagon trains gpi.ng westward had,-; a ,supply -of • these.- pills. ^ Indivi-

dua.-lsit:raveling-;t.|?y riverboat would pft,env,d-isembark and.:tr,a.yelri?any miles

;-,,:::,-ciOver , lapd...to,..;.sec.ur^-: the "antiffeye-r-. p-illsi'" . I-t coU-ld-./ apt-ly.he, said

120 that "the rifle won the West, but it was the Sappington pills that kept,

it."

Later the name was changed to Sappington's Anti-Fever Pills. He felt that the most effective weapon in fighting the dread disease was giving quinine when the ague patient had the fever. Twenty-five to thirty agents were hired to distribute the pills throughout that part of the country.

On October 28, 1843, Dr. Sappington deposited with the United States District Court of Missouri the title of his book "The Theory and Treatment of Fevers", by Dr. John Sappington, Saline County, Missouri. Apparently this was the first medical book in America written west of the Mississippi.

The doctor had long been a supporter and advocate of education. He was especially interested in vocational training for the future citizens of his native state. In October, 1853, he gave the initial gift which inaugurated the Sappington School Fund for the needy students of Saline County. At his death in 1856, the school began its purpose through the years and has helped educate over 13,000 students. He died at his home near Arrow Rock, Saline County, Missouri on Sep tember 7, 1856.

121 ANTHONY SHARP

By: Louise Gillespie Lynch (Mrs. Clyde D. Lynch)

Anthony Sharp was born in 1746 in Sumner County, North Carolina.

He was serving as a lieutenant in McCrory's Company, 9th North Carolina

Regiment, November 28, 1776, and August 24, 1777, he was listed as captain.

In 1791, Anthony Sharp married Margaret Nelson of Sumner County,

North Carolina. In 1800, he was paying taxes on 3200 acres of land on the Big Harpeth in Williamson County, Tennessee. He died June 8, 1812, and is buried in a family graveyard on Boyd Mill Pike in the Ninth

District. His widow, Margaret, married another Revolutionary Soldier,

George Hulme.

Anthony Sharp was the father of the following children: Sarah, born February 9, 1793; Jane, born June 5, 1795; Elizabeth, Born

January 13, 1797; Ann, born August 24, 1798; Sala, born June 24, 1800;

Seercy, born October 5, 1802; Sumner, born November 10, 1804; and

Margaret, born August 4, 1808.

Information from "Our Valiant Men; Soldiers and Patriots of the

Revolutionary War Who Lived in Williamson County, Tennessee," by Louise

Gillespie Lynch, 1976; pp. 165-166.

123 DR. COURTNEY SHROPSHIRE

By: Glenn I. Johnson

Dr. Shropshire was born July 10,

1877, in New Orleans, Louisiana, "The

City Cares Forgot," and "birthplace of

iJ-- the cocttaii."

The dread of cholera in his early

childhood forced the family to migrate

" to Waveland, Mississippi, a resort town.

Here, the" family became acquainted with

the great statesman Jefferson Davis,

former President of Confederate States

of America.

■ When cholera broke out in Waveland,

the family moved to Jackson, Mississippi,

Dr. Courtney Shropshire certain that this move would place the

entire family in a more healthful atmos

phere, and particularly free from the Infectious disease of cholera.

' • Courtney Shropshire soon became a young business tycoon, beginning

as an usher at the Old Robinson Theatre and delivering newspapers for

the Jackson'Clarion-Ledgei. By 1896, Courtney'was a young man of 19.

Besides his public school, his education had included comparatively

short terms in Mississippi'A'and M College, Millsaps College, and Wards

. . J .. ■^Business College. He had completed courses in stenography and typing

skills upon which he was to draw heavily for income later. , He was

employed in a' la^ firm later and became a court report in the Hinds

County Courthouse in Jackson.

125 The summer of 1897 was ushered in with a yellow fever scare in

the lower areas of the Mississippi, and Jackson was a particular tar

get. This brought Courtney back to his family and he soon found the

scare justified,

. The ..town had been the center of a "yellow fever epidemic"-and

refugees, were, J^l.eeipg from their homes by train, bus, cart and horse

, and buggy,, , - ^

The Shropshires,;were .affected and their lives were changed. The

parents accpmpanied by the older children took the train to Nashville,

Tennessee, There the difficulty of finding suitable accomodations

forced them to move to Franklin, The Arlington Hotel had been open

for only a short, rtime, and here'the Shropshires found a warm welcome, w.'

with comfortable, rooms and good.meals, . Courtney's friendly nature soon found a friend, young Dr, Dan

Cliff, Jr,, who maintained offices next door to the hotel. The two

became good friends and,Courtney was permitted to go with the doctor

on his professional calls. In.a short while he took over the minor cases, such.as dressing wounds, and eventually learned to "administer ether and to assist the doctor otherwise in many of his surgical cases. In October, 1897, the yellow.-fever scare had subsided and the Shropshires made plgns for returning fO^theif''home. 'Dr, Cliff, Jr. and Courtney, discussed the .question of the latter remaining in

Franklin as Dr. Cliff'.s, .assistant and studyihg'medicine iti Nashville.

Both parents were agreeable.., but. Mr. Shfopshfre quickly ad mitted tha^t .his financial position would-.not allow him to pay his son's expenses in. a medical,school,; Dr. Cliff' said he would share his room with Courtney..apd they would have their meal's with his grandparents. Dr..^and.Mrs. Dan Cliff, Sr. -At Courtney's first

126 cross roads of life, his father lent him $75.00 and Dr. Cliff, Senior put up $125.00, which made it possible for Courtney to enr.oll in

medical school on October 10, 1897. • Utilizing his business college knowledge, such as the use gi his typewriter, correcting papers, assisting the doctor, and husbanding his finances, Courtney was well along in acquiring the knowledge and,ejc-

pertise necessary for a successful medical career. The second year of his medical school, he found it necessary to leave Franklin, the Cliff family and many friends. 'fLater when,cor responding with this writer, from his home in Palisades Beach, California, he asked many questions concerning certain individuals and families. He said he owed Franklin and its good people a deb.t of gratitude which he could never repay.

On April 1, 1900, one day after receiving his diploma from the medical department of the University of Tennessee, he registered with the Medical Board of Nashville, which bestowed on him the right to practice medicine in Tennessee. However,'he opened his first-office in Gilbert, Louisiana, in May, 1900, becoming the typical country doctor, admired and respected by all. After nearly three years of horseback and buggy practice, he decided to move to Birmingham,

Alabama, and in May, 1903, he passed the Alabama medical examina tion.

Later, while on a short vacation, he was introduced to Leta Mary Duffy of Louisville, Kentucky, and after a short courtship was mar ried on September 21, 1908. The year 1917 was Dr. Shropshire's miracle year. A small group of Birminghami'businesssand professional men had been meeting.together at weekly luncheons to promote a feeling'of universal brotherhood. ■ ■ 237 ^ ^ , The genesis of this.group had be,en inaugurated on March 17, 1917,

and was the first Civitan Club, taking its name from the latin' word

"civitas" meaning "citizenship," and: adopting the motto "Builders

of Good Citizenship." Dr. Shropshire was elected an' officer and

later president of this group, " "

In this same year,,he was appointed chief of Urological Services of the Norwood Hospital and Hillman-Jefferson Hospital and visiting

urologist to other infirmaries in Birmingham;:and vicinity.'

Through all this Dr.. Shropshire had begun to-.dfeam of an asso

ciation of service clubs on international status such as Civitan

International is today.. On,March 13, 1920, Dr. and Mrs, Shropshire

were informed of the, filing of the papers of incorporatibh'of the

International Association of Civitan Clubs. Dr. Shropshire had been

elected President of the organization and officially designated

"Founder of International Association of Civitan ClUbs." Plans for an international organization had grown out of numerous'requests from other Southern cities for approval of their desire to organize a civitan club in their.own community. The Board of Directors of the Birmingham Club consequently authorized President Shropshire to appoint a committee to devise ways and means for a national organi zation of Civitan Clubs., This he did, and.the ciVitah movement was on.

A professional man -- yes, even a doctor can be civic-minded and serve his community, and Dr. Shropshire, proved it, civitan became the passion of his life, a monument in the building of which he took delight.

From 1920 to 1923, Dr. Shropshire was active'in civic affaiirs, conducting his professional life and leading the civitan movement in

128- establishing clubs elsewhere. The first year of the embryo associa tion s international status, the Birmingham Club, of course, received Charter Number 1, and was known as the Mother Club, and Dr. Shropshire as international President presented charters as follows: ■ Number 2 to Helena, Arkansas, Number 3, to Memphis, Tennessee, Number 4 to West Helena, Arkansas, Number 5 to North Little Rock, Arkansas, Num ber 6 to Chattanooga, Tennessee. This movement gained momentum as the.years went by.. Always spear heading the front ranks was Dr. Courtney Shropshire.

During his life time he saw Civitan Clubs established in small towns and in large Metropolitan areas, each one having as its primary goal helping ones fellowman and teaching a living as good citizens. With a modest beginning in Oslo, Norway in the 1960.'s, Citritan spread across Europe to encompass four nations with clubs that are known for their strength and activity. Then followed Canada and Mexico, live and working organizations in every detail. Then came the Orient and now there are nine Civitan Nations.

Dr. Shropshire spent his last years in California a true Civitan until he drew his last breath. He died April 28, 1955. His remains were shipped to Birmingham,

Alabama, for burial.

129 THOMAS BENTON SMITH

By: T. Vance Little

Thomas Benton Smith "was one of the youngest generals in the Confederate

army. Educated at the Nashville

Military Institute and West Point,

Smith began his military career

as second lieutenant in Company B

of the 20th Tennessee Regiment.

He helped to organize this company

which was raided in the Nolens-^- .

ville, Triune and College Grove

areas of Williamson County. He

was elected colonel at the reor

r ganization of the regiment at

Corinth, Mississippi, in May,

1862. He received his commission

as brigadier general at Atlanta in

Thomas Benton Smith , August of 1864. He was 26 years old.

Thomas Benton Smith was born in Rutherford County near Triune in 1838.

He was the son of James Meachan and Martha Washington Page Smith. He showed mechanical ingenuity at an early age and is credited with inventing a cow catcher for trains.

Smith was on Hood's staff at the Battle of Franklin, It was he who in formed the Carter family that Tod Carter was lying wounded on the grounds.

He followed Hood to Nashville, when after that battle when the Confederate troops had surrendered and had been disarmed, he was hit on the head with a sabre by a Union officer. As a result of this blow. General Smith

131 developed a mental disorder from which he never recovered. He spent most of the rest of his life in Central State Hospital. During lucid intervals he lived with his sister near Triune.

132 'SETH SPARKMAN

By: Miss Mary Trim Anderson

. i -J

m

Tombstone of Seth and Rehecca Sparkman in Boston Cemetery:'in Southwest Williamson County

Not all those whom Williamson t. County delights to honor were "^-s-tatesmen, doctors,.: educators, Seth and Rebecca Latta Sparkman lawyers or other so-called pro minent people. Our county achieved its present state of progress through the efforts and contributions of a great cross-section of people -- lawyers, crafts- men, preachers, ..farmers, gooid family men and women who, made their livings in ^^ariety of ways.' Such a man was Seth Sparkman,. a resident of the present Boston community for most of"the nineteenth century. The Sparkmans, Scottish immigrants, came to America in 1635, settling in Virginia,.where they became fairly prosperous. Over a century, later one des cendant of these.earlysettlors, William Sparkman, served in his father's

133 stead in the Revolutionary War, during which time he was a prisoner

on the island of Jamaica (he later fought also at New Orleans).

After his marriage he and his wife joined a wagon train that arrived

at Nashville in December, 1796. As a war veteran he could have

claimed land, but preferring hunting and trapping to farming, he

accepted the job as caretaker of the property of Major Lewis. He

and his wife moved into an outhouse - with dirt floor - that had

served as a stable, and here Seth Sparkman was born January 15, 1797.

In 1799 William asked Major Lewis for the hunting grounds he had

promised him, whereupon the Major, in lieu of Sparkman's land warrant

gave him lands at the edge of a fairly large Indian settlement; this

area is in the present First and Second Districts of Williamson County.

Here the Sparkman family moved in 1811, grew, prospered and multi

plied; William had nine children. Many of the family are buried on

this property and others in the cemetery at Boston.

Seth Sparkman lived on Lick Creek, two miles from Natchez Trace - '"Notchey Trace", it was called then and still is today by some - a

very important thoroughfare during his lifetime. Here he farmed, had

a blacksmith shop and practiced a little medicine. He even preached

on occasion and spent much time as a Bible teacher. He had several

workmen on his farm and in his smith, blacksmithing being an essential

and profitable occupation of the time..

He and his wife, Rebecca Latta Sparkman, reared seven children, whom they provided with the best education they.could. One, named for his father, attended the "best schools", and became a doctor. They have many descendants in the county today, though most do-not wear..the

Sparkman name.

Sparkman was a man of considerable influence in his community,." He was an active business man and an avid, reader. ,. In ,spite of little

134 formal schooling, he "attained a fair eminence as an English scholar and

became well informed in the general sciences" (William Anderson in obitu

ary in Gospel Advocate, December 24, 1884). He had a select library, to

which he added year by year. His special interests ran to books about

the Bible and religion; incidentally, he read without glasses throughout

his life. In his latter years, in spite of the plea of his children to'

take life easy, he refused to quit working; "I prefer to wear out, not

to rust out", he said. Another motto was "Live as if you expect to re

main here, and be ready to go tomorrow." We infer something of his per

sonality in knowing he collected material for his coffin and made his

funeral arrangements in order to spare both unnecessary expense and show.

He was known as a great and wise counsellor; he extended his influence to

all who worked for him. In conversation and business, it is said, he al ways found ways to incorporate Bible teaching.

He and his family first attended the Union Church at Leiper's Fork, where he and Rebecca were baptized by the noted evangelist Andrew Craig -- according to their tombstone, the first people south of Nashville bap tized for remission of sins. Later he helped establish a congregation at Boston, nearer his home. It is said it was always his pleasure to help build up congregations, stir people to practical duties and en courage young men to preach.

Being something of a hymster, he spent some of his time writing verse on a variety of subjects. One selection, composed when he was about eighteen and found in one of his old account books, ran to over a hundred lines and recorded in rhythm and rhyme the country's history .'y i from the Revolution through the War of 1812. It is said that he once offered a granddaughter, Carrie Alexander, a new silk dress if she would find him a rhyme for "silver." The record neglects to tell us whether or not she got the dress.

135 JUDGE THOMAS. STUART •

By: Lula Fain Moran,Major (Mrs. Herman Major)

My active interest in the

Sbiscartt family stemmed from re-

seanrlah I was doing in the early

II and mid-1960's on Grassland

Farm which was my family home,

and also from a visit during ■ that same period to the graves

under the tall trees near the i

foot of the hill on this same ■ farm. John Stuart, born in

* 1725, with his wife Ann lie

buried there, their graves

■ having been marked after the

death of their son Thomas, and

at his direction. John's tomb

stone is still there; hers is

4-r gone.

This elderly couple did not

get to enjoy their. Williamson Judge .Kiomas, CtiiaEt ■■ ■■ - County farm lQ.njgl.lh.efe5e hdiS:xldydathlrntl799, the same year Williamson County ■ Circuit Court Judge . . . .y...... ■ ■ was established,' Mr, Stuart had only bought the 274 acres of land which was part of Grassland Farm in^the second half of the 1800's from Thomas Molloy in 1797. Mrs, Stuart survived her husband some twelve years; her will was probated in this county in the January session of 1812,

137 John and Ann Stuart were parents of three children - Thomas,

Janet, who Is also spoken of as Jlnea, Jennth, Jennette, or Jane,

and Robert. They were all grown and married when their parents

moved to what is now Williamson County, Special attention at this

time is being paid to their oldest son, Thomas, who has the distinc

tion of being Williamson County's first circuit judge.

. Thomas .Stuart, was born on Jiiine 11th in the year 1762 in the

state of; Pennsylvania, possibly in Lancaster County, as his father

,had bought fifty acres in that county in 1758. Exactly when the

Stuart's left the Colrain Township of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

is not known,, but Thomas Stuart was in Tennessee around 1792 along

with his father and brother Robert and probably the rest of the

family,. Thomas Stuart married Margaret Larimore sometime prior to

1802 when a land tr.ansaction in Wilson County shows her as his wife,

and the marriage probably took place before Thomas moved to the Nash

ville area. ,

"It is not known where Thomas Stuart studied law or with whom

he studied. The first information we have about his legal career is

that he was licensed to practice law in Davidson County in 1796, and

was admitted as an attorney at law in Sumner County in July term of 1797.

On May 13th, 1797, John Sevier, Governor of Tennessee, signed a li

cense, for him 'to practice as an attorney at law in the several

County Courts of Pleas and Quarter sessions in the state aforesaid.

Family letters show that Thomas Stuart handled some cases in •

Kentucky in 1798. His brother,. Robert, lived in Christian County at'

that time. From a letter to-Thomas Stuart from Andrew Jackson, datdd

January 2, 1807, concerning the activities of Aarori Burr,- we know

that at that time he was .District Attorney of- the United States for

138 the District of West Tennessee, which included Nashville. He also "sat in" on cases for Judge John Overton.

While the Tennessee State Legislature was meeting in Knoxville oh

November 16, 1809, it passed an act to establish Circuit Courts of .

Law and Equity. Williamson County was to be one of the eight counties of the Fourth Circuit,, the others being at that time Davidson, Wilson,

Lincoln, Rutherford, Giles, Maury, and Bedford. During this same legis lative session, judges were elected for each of the five circuits, and

Thomas Stuart was unanimously elected Judge of. the Fourth Circuit,. His commission was signed, by Willie Blount, as governor, and R. Houston, as secretary, on November 24, 1809. It was on the following .January 2 that James Robertson administered to him the oath of office at the. court house in Nashville.

Since Judge Stuart had to serve eight counties, he held court in each county twice a year - two weeks in the spring and two in the fall.

His first court in Williamson County was May 14, 1810. Both criminal and civil cases came under his jurisdiction.

. Just prior to holding his first court in Williamson County, Judge

Stuart purchased on May 3 a farm of 200 acres in Williamson County from

Joseph Marrs (Meairs) "on the waters of Big Harpeth." It was near or on Spencer's Creek. Judge Stuart and his wife, Margaret, moved to

Williamson County from Davidson around 1812, it is thought. Here they lived until she died in late 1835 and he on October 16, 1838. Both are buried in the Old City Cemetery.

Judge Stuart served ably as Circuit Judge until 1836 when he de cided to retire. His decision to retire was based on two things - his poor health and changes that had been made concerning the tenure of judges when the new state constitution was ratified in 1835. The

139 Williamson County Circuit Court in its meeting on February 12, 1836

paid tribute to Judge Stuart's • long service to the county. The tri

bute :.wa:S signed by the twelve members of the Grand Jury; the eleven

members, of the Petit Jury; the sheriff, N. Childress; the deputy

sheriff, William Harrison; the'clerk, James Stewart; and eight mem

bers of, the, bar. Excerpts from the document which follow show us of

the high esteem in whidh Judge Stuirt was held."

"For twenty-seven years he has discharged all the various and ardious duties of a Circuit Judge and has uniformly and universally had the character of an upright, impartial, and enlightened Jurist. Never has he turned aside from the direct onward path of his duty to win pqpular ap-plause by conciliatory popular prejudicies or soothing popular feeling. The law and the testimony have been his only end. Wherever these have pointed the way he has firmly trod Such a judge is a blessing which is seldom be stowed on.any country, etc."

Judge and Mrs. Stuart had no children, as far as we know, but his .deeds of kindness to his sister, his sister's daughter, Nancy, and

■her children and to the children of his brother, Robert, show the love and concern he .had for his family.

The original of the accompanying picture hung in the Circuit

Court room of the Williamson County Court House" for many years; then t it was.taken to the State Museum in Nashville to hang there with other prominent. Tennesseans. A copy was placed in the-file oi the Williamson

County Historical Society at the War Memorial Public Library by Mr, and Mrs.^ Alan Carl. Mr. Carl is descended from Judge "Stuart's niece,

Jane Breathett Stuart, who married Jacob Carl.

140 EDWARD SWANSON

By: Lula Fain Moran Major (Mrs. Herman Major)

Early in the year of 1779,

James Robertson and the eight m men .who had traveled with him

from the Watauga settlement on

an exploratory mission arrived at the present site of Nashville.

Edward Swanson, then nineteen

years of a^e and unmarried, was

one of this number, the others

being George Freeland, William

Neely, James Hanly, James

Robertson's brother, Mark,

Zachariah White, William Overall, and a negro man "who was after

v': ward killed at Freeland's Station,

- in the year 1781, on the same night when Major. Lucas was killed." The men were here to select a site.for a permanent settlement for some of the families of Watauga and to plant corn that spring for;, food, when the settlers arrived. W. A. Putnam.in his History of-Middle Tennesseerwrote ..that soon after the Robertson party reached their destination that. they.jwere joined by another small party under the guidance of Gasper Mansker, arid .that, they all united in planting corn near .Sulphur

Spring.

141 After the corn was planted, it was decided that part of the

party should return to Watauga to help the families get ready for

their up-coming trip, while others should remain to guard the un- fenced corn from the buffalo and to gather the corn in the fall.

James Robertson had to make a trip to Illinois on business so he set

out for that country; Edward Swanson, Zachariah White, and William

Overall remained to take care of the crop of corn while the rest of

the party returned to what is now East Tennessee. James Robertson

later joined them there.

It is we 11-known', that James Robertson and the men who traveled

overland with him driving the stock arrived at what came to be Ft.

Nashborough at Christmas Time in 1779, and that the rest of the settlers, under the leadership of John Donelson, reached the same destination on

April 24, 1780. While waiting for their families to arrive, the men who were already there built some log houses and a few started sta tions about the area. On May 1, 1780, the settlers signed what is

known as the Cumberland Compact, thus establishing their first form of government. Edward Swanson was not one of these signers - why,

I have not learned.

In 1780 or early 1781, Edward Swanson was married by James Stjaw, a trustee for the "settlement, to Mrs, Mary (Luny or Looney) Carvin, a widow with two children, William and Nancy. Her husband, Edward

(Ned) Carvin, had been killed by the Indians at his "clearing" in what is now East Nashville, and she and the children, are said to , have escaped■to Ft. 'Nashborough. Of the wedding, Putnam wrote; -

the "Chairman of the Cbthmittee" of the Provisional. Government, per

formed the like pleasant ceremony, by which Edward Swanson was made

"the Lawful husband, and widow Carvin the truly wedded wife, .and

'enjoined to live together as such lovingly.'"

142 Had; it not been for the accurate,aim of John Buchanan, Sr., young

Mrs. Swanson would have again become a,.widow. - this time on,April: 2,

1781. It was early in the morning on that date that Indians attacked

Ft. Nashborough, and the fighting that took place is known as the Battle

of the,Bluff in which.Mrs, James Robertson saved the fort by.turning the

vicious dogs loose on the Indians. But it was Mr. Buchanan who pre

vented an Indian who was attacking Edward Swanson from killing,hira "prac

tically just outside the fort gate." Mr. Swanson was.the last man to reach the fort and was only twenty yards away when the Indian came upon him. Edward Swanson was young, just twenty-one, and strongly built him- sAlf, but one of the enemy had knocked his gun from his hand, and. in the

struggle that ensued he was given a blow to his head with the butt end

of the gun. As the Indian's tomahawk desended for the fatal blow, John

Buchanan came quickly from the fort and fired a full discharge . into the attacker. Mr. Buchanan carried young Swanson into the fort to, his happy

wife of a few months. . .;i .

The struggling young settlement was so busy just defending itself that for. almost three years few of the operations of the Cumberland Com pact were, put into effect. They did meet; on January 7, 1783, and again on October 7 of that year. At this .latter meeting, constables were ap pointed for the various stations. As Edward Swanson was appointed to serve as the constable for Free.land's ..Station, one would assume that he was living there at that time. The year of 1787 was the first year in which the tax on land and polls was taken in Davidson County, and Edward

Swanson's name appeared on this list. -Williamson County had not been formed,then, but it is believed that the Swanson's were still in the area of Nashville,

Land was set aside in the Western section of North Carolina (now

Tennessee) by the State Assembly for its officers and soldiers in acts

143 of 1782 and 1783. In 1783 it was noted that there were already fami

lies settled on the Cumberland River within this land so set aside.

To these who were settled there prior to June 1, 1780, the State gave

pre-emption rights - the right for each family, head of family, or

single, man of age to purchase 640 acres of land paying at the rate of

ten pounds, per hundre.d acres. .Edward Swanson was thus . entitled to

this purchase.

In 1784, another act was passed that affected Edward Swanson.

The State Records of North Carolina by Clark, Volume 24, pp. 629 and

630, tell us that the North Carolina General Assembly was held at

.Hillsborough, beginning April 19, 1784. James Robertson was sent as

a Representative to this legislature, and it was he who was respon

sible for seeing that the early settlers of Ft. Nashborough were

"officially recognized, recorded, and rewarded." Chapter 58 of this

act was entitled. "An Act for the Relief of Sundry Petitioners

Inhabitants of Davidson County Whose Names are Therein Mentioned,"

This act provided for three groups - (1) those settlers who had

come to the area before June 1, 1780 and who had remained to de'fe-nd

the settlement through all the dangers from the Indians; (2) for the

heirs or devisees of the sixty-three.persons .who were killed in the

defense and settlement of the county of Davidson; and (3) for nine

teen others who were of two groups - those who were there before

June 1, 1780 and who had defended bravely but were not of age then

and others who came after June 1, 1780 but who had been especially

helpful in defending the settlement. Edward Swanson was one of those

named in the first group of seventy persons; his wife's first hus

band, Edward Carvin, was listed in the second group. This list of

one hundred fifty-one persons has come to be known as the Pioneer

Roll of Honor of Davidson County.

144 The act also specified that each of these persohs was "entitled to

receive from the Governor for the time being a grant of 640 acres of

land, without being obliged to pay any price for the same; provided,

that every person receiving such grant shall pay the surveyors and other

fees of office." Section II further states that these so named could

locate on any vacant land in the county except that set aside for offi

cers and soldiers of the Revolutionary War, and it authorized the Governor

of North Carolina "to make such grant in the same manner to each and every

of the before-named persons as if they had paid the full price of ten

pounds per hundred acres."

Consequently, both Edward Swanson and the heirs of Edward Carvin,

who were his step-children, were entitled to a free 640 acre tract of

land. Each did get a grant for that amount, and yet each deed, regis

tered in Davidson County, states that the acreage was paid for at the

rate of ten pounds per hundred acres. Why? If they did' actually pay

for the land which they were entitled to receive at no cost to them,

the only explanation I can give is that they exercised their rights of

pre-emption and entered the land with the entry taken before they heard

that North Carolina was giving them 640 acres. The North Carolina Assembly

began its session on April 19, 1784 and went on into May. News traveled

slowly. The deed to the Carvin grant says of that land - "Grant No, 129...

Located and entered in the preemption office May 5, 1784," while the

Swanson grant only says, "Located May 5, 1784." The first had warrant

#427 and the other #428, so Mr, Swanson must have entered them both at

the same time and before he knew of the provisions made for the early

settlers by the State of North Carolina.

William Carvin, as the heir of his father, Edward Carvin, obtained

640 acres of land on the north side of Cumberland River in' Davidson

145 Courity. It was surveyed by James Mulherin, D.S., on August 11/ 1784,

the grant'was signedrby Richard Caswell,' governor, dated April 17,

1786, and registered on March 10, 1788, The July session of Davidson

County Court in 1809 directed commissioners to divide this land be

tween the heirs of William Carvin, deceased. It was divided into two

' tracts - about two thirds for his mother and step-father, Polly and

Edward Swanson and the rest for his sister, Nancy Rutherford, wife of

Benjamin Rutherford, On October 4, 1815 the Swanson's, who were then

living in Williamson County, sold their 407 acres to Joseph Philips

of Davidson County for $5,000.00.

Exactly when Edward Swanson and his family moved to his land in

Williamson County is not known, but he was here prior to May 7, 1800

at which time he was appointed as a juror for the next court. Besides

serving on the Grand Jury and other juries in these earliest years of

bur courity, he was also one of those who helped lay out roads, the first

being "from the town of Franklin so as to intersect the road cut by the

Federal troops at or north of the Duck River ridge, etc." He served

in several instances as one of a group' of commissioners appointed by

the court to investigate early land matters.

Mr. Swanson must have had something about his own land transaction

that needed clarification because at the court meeting of August 4,

1801, he asked the Williamson County Court to appoint "commissioners

to examine witnesses relative to the improvements, specialities and

bounds of an entry.and survey of 640 acres of land lying on the East

side of the West fork of Big Harpeth being a preemption right origi

nally granted to ad. Swanson- for the purpose of perpetuating testi

mony in that behalf and that ad; commissioners or a majority of them

attend ad,'Swanson at the Improvements, Boundaries, and Special

': 146 places called for in his entry and survey on the second Monday in

October next."

When court met on November 2, 1801, the three commissioners -

Joseph B. Porter, William Neely and James Buford - had qualified Jonas

Manifee to testify. The court minutes tell us that Mr. Manifee "saith

that sometime in the month of March in the year 1780 as well as he now

recollects he was a hunting in company with John Raines and found on the

bank of a small branch the waters of West Harpeth a White Oak tree marked with the letters HH and ____ (few?) saplins cut and the foundation

of a cabbin laid which is the same improvement that Edward Swansons pre

emption now includes being the same, tract he now lives on and the same

improvement that was intended for his preemption." This statement was

signed by Mr. Manifee.

Was Mr. Manifee in his testimony saying that it was Edward Swanspn

who had marked the site and started a house prior to March 1780? He

would have had the opportunity to do so as he came in early 1779 to the

Nashville area and stayed. If so, this then could have been the first known attempt to build a permanent house in our county, and Mr, William Henry McRaven in his book entitled, "The Life and Times of Edward.Swanson,' accords Edward Swanson this honor. The deed for the land tell us it was "Located May 5, 1784," which seems to mean the date he went to the entry- taker and gave him the location of the. land. It is clear from Jonas Manifee*s deposition that Edward Swanson had selected this land, where he was living in 1801, for his pre-emption - the pre-emption acts of North Carolina being passed in 1782 and 1783. The deposition, however, is not clear as to who marked,the tree with HH or who started the founda-, tion for a house. Edward Swanson paid one poll tax in 1800 in Williamson County and land taxes on 640 acres. By 1813 he was paying taxes on 990 acres and

147 is known to have bought 28 acres more in 1815, That year on April 3, he gave land to two of his sons. To Richard he gave 221 acres, all from the original tract; to James he gave 236 acres of which 208 acres was from his pre-emption tract and the other was a tract of 28 acres he had purchased from Absalom Tatom. A general grant of 105 acres in

Hardeman County was registered to him in 1822,

After the death of his first wife, Edward Swanson married Mary

(Polly) Allen, the bond being made on July 21, 1823 in Williamson

County. In his will he mentioned five children, three sons by his first wife - Peter, Richard., and James - and a son, Ira, and a daughter

Adelia, by his second wife, Peter seems to have moved from this county. The grant records in the Tennessee State Library and Archives show that between 1.821, and 1847 Peter Swanson received 2,873 acres in the counties of Giles, Hardeman, Hardin, Lawrence, Madison and

Tipton, Richard and James lived in Williamson County on the land their father gave them until their deaths; Adelia, born January 31,

1828, died on June 16, 1844 in her 17th year at the wife of H, H.

Mayberry; and it is thought Ira moved to Mississippi. When Edward

Swanson, who was born on December 28, 1759, died on September 28,

1840 in his eighty-first year, the two younger children were not of age and their half-brother, James, was their guardian. Edward

Swanson was buried on his farm on what is now Kittrell Road. Mr.

McRaven brings out the fact in his bpok that Edward Swanson outlived all of the other men who came on the exploratory expedition in 1779 to select the site for Nashville.

Edward Swanson's second wife, Mary (Polly), died in 1845 as min utes of the Williamson County Court on October 7, 1845, show that

James Swanson, Sr. was appointed tcadminister the estate of "Mary'

148 Swanson, late of this county, who hath departed this life intes tate."

We, therefore, want to remember Edward Swanson as one of those who selected the site for the city of Nashville; as one of those honored by being included on Davidson'County's Pioneer Roll of Honor in 1784 as one of the original seventy settlers; and as one of Williamson County's earliest settlers, who had selected the land where he chose to live be fore May 5, 1784, some fifteen years before the establishment of our county.

149 DR. ELIJAH THOMPSON

By: Elva Mayo Darby (Mrs. Wiliiam J. Darby)

Elijah Thompson was born

July 5, 1805, in Campbell Coun-

'ty, Virginia, the son of John

and Elizabeth Thompson. Camp

bell County was named for

General William Campbell, the

hero of King's Mountain, one

of the decisive battles of the i Revolution.

:,Mary Ann Riley Thompson

. A deed in 1812 shovjs John

Thompson buying 2000 acres on the headwaters of the West

Harpeth River in Williamson

County, Tennessee, from Jesse 1 Jones;, rJr;., of Campbell Couti- ty, Virginia. In his will, written 47 years later^ John

Thompson divided his larige - Dr. Elijah Thompson

151. holdings among his sons, Absolom, Elijah, and George W., and his

sons-in-law, Samuel Fleming, Sr., and William Fleming, Sr. Mixey

Thompson had married Samuel Fleming in 131'9. Elijah Thompson was

a prominent State Legislator, physician, and planter for whom

Thompson Station was named.

He settled in Williamson County in the early 1800's and after

a time purchased and moved to the farm now known as Laurel Hill and

presently owned by Mr. and Mrs. Ray E. Garrett. Later he established

a home approximately four miles south of this location on the east

side of the turnpike road, afterwards owned by Dr. Hiram A. Laws,

■who had married one of Dr. Thompson's daughters, Mary Emma Thompson.

Dr. Thompson engaged extensively in cotton speculation, and

during several years entered into this trade with so much spirit that

the Nashville market was thereby stimulated, often resulting in great benefit to the people of this and other communities.

He read medicine under Dr. William G. Dickinson of Franklin and received his M.D. degree in 1830 from Transylvania University. In 1830, also, he was elected to membership, from Williamson County, in

the Medical Society of Tennessee. He practiced medicine and farmed at Thompson Station. Dr. Thompson was active as a preceptor of me dicine, and the names of five of his students are known: Samuel

Fleming and William Fleming, Isaac House, William Thompson, and

David H. Dungan, another son-in-law. Dungan's wife Alice, inciden tally, played an important part in the Battle of Thompson Station on

March 5, 1963, when she, having taken refuge in the cellar of a neigh bor, Thomas Banks, saw the color-bearer of the Arkansas regiment fall and rushed from her place of safety, took up the flag, and waved it over her head, shouting encouragement to the Confederate troops.

152 Indeed, Dr. Elijah Thompson served as a surgeon during' the War Between the States, and a cane with a dagger, inclosed, which hd used as protection at that time, is now in the possession of one of his ' family members. Dr. Hiram A. Laws III, a dentist of Chattanooga, pre sently a Board of Trust member of Battle Ground Academy; Dr.'Laws Also has a sash that Thompson wore when he served as army surgeon on the staff of Governor Isham G. Harris and one of two brass candlesticks, which where held on each side of the operating table.to enable him to operate by night. Soon after the charter of the Tennessee and Alabama Railroad was ob tained, Dr. Thompson undertook, with the aid of other gentlemen, the task of getting up the stock and making a success of the building of this rail

road from Nashville to Columbia. He served in the House of the Tennessee General Assembly, 23rd and 28th sessions, 1839-1841 and 1849-1851, and as such representative was con

stant and faithful in his duties. He was married three times - in 1826 to Amelia H. Buford, in 1841 to Mary Ann Riley, and in 1863 to Susan E. Elbeck. His ten children were born during the second marriage. Dr. Thompson died May 11, 1871, in his 66th year, after a protracted and very painful illness, and is buried on the old homeplace near Thompson Station. He was buried with Masonic honors, about 65 Masons being in the procession, consisting of parts of the Spring Hill, Bethesda, and Franklin lodges. The burial service was performed by the Franklin Lodge at the re quest of the Spring Hill Lodge. The religious services were conducted by . the Reverend Thompson, a .-.nephew of Dr. Thompson, and by Dr. Hanner of Franklin, assisted by Major N. F. Cheairs of Spring Hill and others, and the prayers offered by Dr. Malley, chaplain of Spring Hill Lodge, and especially the Grand Honors as united in by all the Masons present.

153 Dr. Elijah Thompson's life had been an eventful one. Commenc

ing early in life the practice of his profession, he devoted nearly

half a century to its arduous and responsible duties, and during the

greater part of this long period he did a most successful and exten

sive practice* If he had confined himself to his practice and had

-used reasonable diligence in collecting from his patients he would

have been at his death one of the wealthiest men in the county. He

was, to a certain extent; speculative in his views. His friends and

acquaintances, however, never lost confidence in his integrity, and

to the last day of his life Dr. Thompson had less difficulty in rais

ing funds for various causes than many men of large property. He was

strictly an honest man.

■ "In all the various relations of life, as an affectionate husband

and kind father, son, brother, neighbor and friend, he was ever con

stant in his attachments and faithful in his friendships."'

154 MISS ANN TOHRNER

By: Hazel Tohrner Posnack . (Mrs. Joseph B. Posnack)

Miss Ann Tohrner was born

in Franklin on March 26, 1887.

t. She was the daughter of Flora

and Abraham Tohrner who came

to Franklin, from New York in

1886 and opened a dry-goods

store.

She was educated at the

Tennessee Female College where

she studied piano and was an

accomplished musician. She ■ ■ ■ was organist at the Episcopal

Church for a number of years. ■ I ■ After finishing Draughon's

S Business College in Nashville,

she accepted a position as '

secretary for Judge J. C. Miss Ann Tfhrncr Eggleston.

Mr. Tohrner passed away in 1922, and Mrs. Tohrner and Ann took over the management of the store.

When Mrs. Tohrner passed away in 1946, Ann managed the store alone and changed it from dry goods to a ladies' ready-to-wear shop. It was the first ladies' shop in Franklin.

155 In 1958 her brother-in-law bought the store. When Mr, Posnack

sold out in 1967, Tohrner's Store had been in business in the same location for 78 years. The name is still on,the back of the building. Ann Tohrner was a charter member'of the Allied Arts Club, Franklin Business and Professional Women's Club, and the Franklin

Home Demonstration Club. She always took great interest in the li

brary as well as all the civic organizations. "Miss Ann," as she was affectionately called, passed away April 22, 1966. She was one of the best k'nown and respected citizens of

Williamson County.

156 ■ ■ JOHN WILKINS WHITFIEliD' ' By: Eilene Myhr 'Piummet' ' ' , . (Mrs. G. Rv Plummer)^

Of Tennessee's forty-three brigadief-'generals in'the CiViT "War six were natives of Williamson County, They were Samuel B'enton, W. P.

Hardeman, George E. Maney, Gideon J. Pillow, James C, Tappan, and John W.

Whitfield.

John Wilkins Whitfield was born in 1811 in this county, a son of

Wilkins and Mary Sturdivant Whitfield, originally of Sussex County Virginia. His childhood was probably spent at his father's plantation on Union Bridge Road with the other nine "children in the family. As a young man he worked in Franklin at the Charter (Chartier) store and in

1838 married'Mr.'Charter's daughter Catharine. They had two children,

Virginia and Thomas. After Catharine's death in 1846 John lived with his sister Mary Ann (Mrs. Robert) Charter in Centerville. There was a small colony of Whitfield brothers and sisters in Hickman County in Council

Bend of the Duck River, John's children were reared by his sister, Sarah, who lived in Hickman County and in Franklin. She was thfe wiie of Dr.

Daniel B. McPhail.

The year 1846, when Governor A. V. Brown called for colunteers for the war with Mexico, marks the beginning of John's military career. He became a member of the "Hickory Guards" and captain of Comphhy A, First

Tennessee Regiment, which his brother, Thomas Jefferson Whiffi-eld, had helped to brgahize.. "Jeff" had been elected Brigadier Geneiral and Colonel of'Militia of Davidson County. The regiment was comman&ed by Col. B. F. Cheatham.' 'They Had great hardship from ctowdi'ng oti boats en route to Texas, from disease, and from long marches'. Dir. McPhail,

157 chief surgeon of Whitfield's group, died of dysentery on the beach

at Brazos Santiago in Texas. Nearly■ ey.ery soldier in Co, A, includ

ing John Whitfield, was.ill. After a long march they distinguished

themselves as thfe'"Bloody Piirist" Regiment at the battle of Monterey.

What was left of Company A was incorporated'• in Company K of the 3rd

Tennessee Regiment and continued tp fight-until the close of-the war,

which ended with the fall of Mexico City in September, of 1847.

Then Whitfield served in the Texas state constitutional conven

tion and on a committee to establish.the University of Texas.

Returning to Hickman County, Tennessee,■he^was'honored by the

.j county in having the town Whitfield named for him and .in 'being sent

to the state legislature as senator from the Sixth and Seventh" Dis

tricts. He was Hickman County's most noted citizen.

In 1853 Whitfield married Sarah B^. Dibrell., daughter of Gen. George Dibrell of Sparta, . Tennessee. .. They had a'son, A. J., and moved to Independence, Missouri,- where John .served as Indian -Agent

to the Pottowatomies and later to the Arkansas Indians. In 1835,

as he was the recognized leader of the Southern group, he was sent to the Thirty-third Congress from the Territory of-Kansas. He'con tinued in Congress in 1856 and 1857. In 1858 he was back in'Kansas

serving as registrar in the Land Office at Dolphin. ' ■

At the outbreak of the Civil War Whitfield joined the Con federacy, In 1862 he organized a regiment of Indians to assist the -.

C.S.A. He became the commander of Whitfield-'s Battalion, from which position he rose to Brigadier-Geperal of the Cpnfederate Army of Texas. He had taken part in putting down a Creek uprising'and■in the

battles of Pea Ridge and luka, and was wounded,, but he went"baek- into

service with the 27th Regiment. ' . . ■ ■ ■■

158 When the war was over, the Whitfields settled on a farm in Lavaca

County, Texas, near San Antonio. To inquiring friends John Whitfield said that he was as loyal as any other American, and he showed no rancor in defeat. After a long illness aggravated by his wounds he died in 1879 and was buried at Halletsville.

John Whitfield was justly honored for his patriotism, for his bra very in military engagements, and for public services rendered. He exemplified American ideals and was popular with his associates, who admired his leadership, his versatility, and his genial nature.

159 LOULA ANDERSON HULME YARBOROUGH

By: Lula Fain Moran Major (Mrs. Herman Major)

A young lady, then in her

early twenties, has the dis

tinction" of serving as William

son County's only woman

■ * Superintendent of Schools. 1 She was Loula Hulme, a resident a of the Leipef's Fork or Hills- m boro community of this county,

■ and her term of office was 1 during the years of 1895 and 1896.

Loula Hulme was the old

est child of Dr. Theopolus

Green (Top) Hulme and his wife,

l_ Nancy Elizabeth Sawyer. Both Loula Anderson Hulme Yarborough her Hulme and" Sawyer ances

tors came to Williamson County early in the 1800's and settled in what later

was known as the Ash Grove and Grassland areas. Dr. Hulme's father, Henry,

was born in 1798 and is said to have ridden horseback behind his father when

only two years old to journey from North Carolina to Williamson County. Top

Hulme was the youngest of the ten children of Henry and Lucy Anderson

(Wright) Hulme. He graduated from Nashville Medical College in Nashville on

February 25, 1879 and set up practice at Leiper's Fork where the family lived

for about twenty years.

161 Loula Hulme was born in Williamson County about 1873. We gay

"about" for even her children have never known exactly the year of

her birth, but believe she was two years older than her sister Mary,

who was born on March 9,' "1875. Loula was several years older than

her husband, who was born in 1877; and, being very sensitive of this

fact, she never divulged her age -- and her parents joined her in

her secret;. Why the secrecy, the family never knew, for no one

would ever have guessed that she was her husband's senior. Besides

her sister Mary, she had two brothers -- Henry Clayton born in 1876

and Isaac Newton born in 1892. She is described as being tall and

slender with red hair, grey eyes, and a most commanding appearance.

Information as to her schooling and her teaching career is sketchy. She is thought to have received her early education in the schools of Leiper's Fork, where the family lived, and then to have graduated from the Tennessee Female Academy in Franklin. She later attended Peabody Normal. Her daughter, Elizabeth (Yarborough)

Gilliland, remembers hearing her mother mention teaching for one year in a boarding school or college in East Tennessee. Whether this was before or after she served as school superintendent is not known. Around the turn of this century. Miss Hulme was at the

Tennessee School for the Blind -- which at that time was on Hermitage

Avenue in Nashville. The records of this school, now at the State

Library and Archives, do not tell us anything about her work there.

However, my aunts remember well her being there and taking them as. children on a tour of the school. They have always thought she was teaching in the school at that time.

Not having school records available now for the period in which

Miss Hulme served in the Williamson County educational system, it

162 was necessary to use other means for determining when she was our county

superintendent. A trustee's school fund book for years 1890-1898 gave

the information. Entries that began in February 1895 and ended with

January 1897 show that Loula Hulme was paid a salary of $12.50 a month

for the years 1895 and 1896. The man who preceded her and the one who

followed received $25.00 monthly while the teachers were being paid

$20.00 and $32.50. As the men who served as superintendent around this

time seemed to be professional men -- one is known to have been a law

yer and one a minister -- one may well wonder if the superintendency was

a full-time job. A salary lower than that of the teachers also seems to

indicate that' the superintendent might not have worked full time. Miss

Hulme, however, was paid during the summer months as well as during the

school year. It would be most interesting to know what duties she per

formed for $12.50 a month. Whether she was not elected to a second term

or whether she did not choose to serve again is not known. It is known

that she preferred teaching to being superintendent.

In the fall of 1902, about the same time as her family moved from Leiper's Fork to Nashville, she went to Louisiana to teach in a boarding school -- Mansfield Female College. This school had grades one through

two years college and was operated by the Methodist Conference. A gra

duate of this school obtained a License Instructor's Degree.

This move to Louisiana ended her days in Williamson County. During the year 1902-03 she met her future husband at a dance. They planned to

be married on Dec. 25, 1903, but he came down with swamp fever and in

his days of high fever begged to be married earlier. The doctor felt it

best to humor him as he was so ill, so Loula Hulme and Robert Wyatt

Yarborough were married on Dec. 23 while he was in bed with a 105 degree fever. Upon her marriage she quit teaching. Only one other time during

163 her life did she return to the classroom; this was during the depres sion in 1929 when the superintendent of schools asked her to teach.

For several years she was principal of a four-room school in

Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, where she also taught the seventh and eighth grades.

With the loss of the family plantation during the depression, her husband who had farmed all these years -- went to work for a power company in San Antonio, Texas, as an engineer. Mr. Yarborough was a 1901 graduate of Texas A & M, the first Louisiana man to gradu ate from that college. Robert Wyatt and Loula Hulme Yarborough con tinued to live in Texas until their deaths in the 1940's -- he on

Feb. 19, 1942, in San Antonio, and she in Corpus Christi three years later on January 2, 1945.

164 WILLIAMSON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

• 1977 Meraber^ ^ - ■ - ■ • •

; i: \ ■; .. ■■■ . 'I / Charter members are indicated with an asterisk (*) before' ■'their, names, ■lA iv;;;::.- ■ , ' n!:.!n:i-,.AV , a a ■ All members reside in Franklin, Tennessee, unless otherwise specified, ■J .'X-. V: T' Mrs. George C. Adams ■ ■ *Mrs. James H. Akin Mrs. J. Clark Anderson ' J. Clark Anderson, III Miss Mary Trim Anderson James H. Armistead • Mrs. Roy C. Avery, Nashville • - Mrs. Edward Babbitt ,-.i - A' ■ ■ • Mrs. John R. Barnett, Bel Aire, Texas , . orA) : ■ !./ G. L. Barnhill *L. p. Barnhill 'A- - *Earl Beasley, Sun City Center, Florida ■ i .i . .i. r/ . Mrs. C. D. Berry • ■ -A -'A ■■/:.;i'i:-' .; "■ Miss Hazel Blankenship a.A •, .i,: : , : nr" E. W. Boice ./ a:. .-,,: . ".e , . . *Mrs. Joe Bowman Mrs. Ida Mae Bratton *Mrs. L. P. Brittain Mrs. Jane T. Bristor James A. Britt, Nashville *Col. Campbell Brown Mrs. Mary Friel Brown, Nashville , Mrs. Joel R. Buchanan Col. A. F. Carden, Maben, Mississippi C. Allen Carl, Nashville Dr. Rosalie Carter J. L. Chrisman, Nashville ■ ' .a - -. *Mr. & Mrs. T. A. Clarkson, Brentwood ~ Mrs. M, Thomas Collins rj pf-'ii : :,. *Mrs, Brent Cook ' - ' ~ ■■■0 Mrs, R. C. Copass Mrs. Ilene J. Cornwall, Nashville : r: ri i' v. . . Mrs. Kathryn H. Cotton • < ' i j ■ J. James Covington, College Grove ...■ rKU .AA --A . John Weakley Covington, Arrington (deceased)'- i. t ,:-' - '-. /■ ■[■■m Mr. & Mrs. J. W. Cross, III . • Dr. Robert Douglas Crowder, Dallas, Texas - James A. Crutchfield ^ Mrs. Dorothy Boyd Dale, Madison Mrs. William J. Darby, Thompson Station ' : Miss Francis Helen Dark, Spring Hill • • Mrs. J. Thomas Dawson r... x.. . 'D .rx'x'xi r-. ..■! ..s-i;-!--- Mrs. William R, Deen *Mrs, Robert Dedman Mrs, Roy B. Donnahoe Mrs. Vernon L. Edens, College Grove Mrs. J. L. Edmondson, Medford, Oklahoma Miss Leota K, Eubank, Nashville f-'&Mrs:.. John H.- Ferguson,- Sr.,' College, (deceased) Mrs, Martha L. Fuqua Mrs, Herman S.-Gardner"■ ■ Nashville- Mrs, W, Clayton Gatlin Mrs. Aubrey Ghee, Chapel Hill *Miss Evalina Gibbs -Tij.'-- Mrs, Kennedy M, Gibbs Mrs, Malcolm M. Gibbs, Thompson Station ■ *Mrs, William Gibbs Mrs, Alfred W. Glaser, Landsdowne, Pennsylvania' *Henry Goodpasture Mrs, Henry Goodpasture Mr. & Mrs, Mike Grace, Drentwood , _ Mrs, Virginia C, Graves, Nashville" ' C, William Green, Nashville *Curtis Green , . .. *Fulton M. Greer '■ , . , ^Charles Haffner *Charles Haffner, Jr. Marvin F, Hall, Scarsdale, New York *Mr. & Mrs. Herbert Harper, Brentwood . . . *Mrs. George Harris, Brentwood ^ Mrs, Sam Hartsfield .T .. Mrs. Inez W. Harvey, Brentwood .r ■ \ , :vc.k .L ■■'..■•r.r-L Joe R, Hendricks , r Miss Mary Ellen Hendricks Joe P, Herbert j .-.r, . Joe Mack Hight, Greenbrier, Tennessee ^ ^Stanley Horn, Jr., Brentwood , i'TP..:) i.i Charles A, Howell, III, Nashville 1 1 . sC' M. H. Inman ■ . -' ■i , J . f, *Alfred E, Jacqueth, College Grove rip', Mr, & Mrs. David E, Jean, Sr., Brentwood *Glenn I. Johnson, Brentwood *Mrs, J. Dobson Johnson Howard V, Jones, Cedar Falls, Iowa ''«Miss Mary Sneed Jones, Brentwood ■ . . . :k Mrs, Tom S, Joy, Nashville .r, , Wilburn Kelley, Jr. , . ; ■ Mrs. Dolores M, Kestner ■ . Mrs, Harley King, Tulia, Texas , ; Mr. & Mrs. George A. Kinnard, Nashville Mrs. Louise G, Landy, San Angelo, Texas David Lassiter, Arrington . . . Calvin Lehew T, Vance Little, Brentwood , i.:.; *W. F. Little *Mrs, H, F. Longino, Atlanta, Georgia Mrs. John R. Lyle, Nashville *Mrs. Clyde Lynch Mrs, Susan B. Lyon Mr. & Mrs. Herman E. Major Mr. & Mrs. M. P. Maxwell, Brentwood Miss Ann Moran Mrs. Marie P. Moseley Mrs. Charles R, Mott, Brentwood Miss Katherine Murray, Nashville James McCanless, Nolensville Gene McNeil Mrs. E.. P. Nixon *Mrs. Eloise Pitts O'More Iksa, Nina H. Ormes Mrs. Leslie W. Osburn, Arrington Miss Sue Owen *Mrs. James I. Pewitt Mrs. Charles E. Pitts *Mr, & Mrs. Barton Pope *Miss Mary K. Pope Miss Joyce Poynor, Columbia, Tennessee *Mrs. Marvin Pratt Miss Nancy J. Ragsdale Mr. & Mrs. Marvin E. Rainey, Jr. Mrs. Mathew M. Rayburn, Thompson Station James H. Redford J. L. Ridley *Mrs. J. L. Ridley Miss Anna W. Roberts, Hattisburg, Mississippi Mrs. Wm. L. Robinson Mr. & Mrs. A. Battle Rodes, Brentwood Mrs. James J. Russell, Collierville, Tennessee *Miss Margaret Sawyer Mrs. C. Harris Scott *Mr. & Mrs. Robert Sewell *Vernon Sharp, Nashville Mrs. T. C. Simmons, Sr., Winchester, Tennessee Mrs. Linae T. Sinclair *Judge W. J. Smith Tennessee State Library & Archives, Nashville *Mrs. Martin Tohrner Mr. & Mrs. Charles P. Tomlinson J. P. Tracewell, Brentwood *Mrs. Joe Waggoner Mrs. James M. Warnock, Annapolis, Maryland *Mr, & Mrs. George F. Watson Mrs. Joris M. White R. L. White Col. Hensley Williams *Mrs, Jordan Williamson, College Grove Mrs. John U. Wilson, Nashville *Dr. J. B. Youmans Mrs, W. R. Young, Brentwood

The Williamson County Historical Society has a total membership of 162 which includes 46 charter members.