Anderson County Tennessee
Biographies from Goodspeed
Continued
W. W. Hays of Walker County, Ga., where he was born April 1, 1851 and is the son of William J. and Harriet (King) Hays. The father was born in Campbell County, Tenn., in 1821, and is the son of Batson Hays, a native of Virginia. He has followed farming all his life, but is now a citizen of Clinton. The mother was born ion the same county December 25, 1824, and is the daughter of W. King, a native of Tennessee. She is a member of the Baptist Church. Out subject was reared on the farm in the vicinity of Coal Creek in Anderson County, and attended the home schools. By studying at home he fitted himself to become a teacher, which occupation he entered when he became eighteen, and during his vacation farmed, and succeeded in both. In September, 1879, he was appointed postmaster at Coal Creek, which position he held for seven years, and in August, 1886, was elected trustee of is a native Anderson County, which position he is now filling with credit to himself and to the county. He is a member of Coal Creek Lodge, No.492, F. & A. M., of which he has served as Senior Warden, and was appointed to represent the lodge in the grand lodge, but did not serve. He was married March 30, 1887, to Amanda Bowling, of Coal Creek, Tenn., who was born in September, 1849, and is the daughter of Joel Bowling. She is a member of the Baptist Church.
William R. Hicks, the subject of this sketch, is judge of the Second Judicial Circuit of Tennessee, and is one of the leading lawyers of Anderson County. He was born in Knox County, Tenn., December 16, 1842, and is the son of John H. and Elizabeth (Dail) Hicks. The father is a native of Tennessee, and was born in 1820. He is the son of Richard N. Hicks, who settled in the Sequatchie Valley at an early date. When a boy, our subject’s father removed to Anderson County, and then to Knox, and later returned to Anderson COunty, where he has since resided, and followed farming. He was elected county trustee, in November 1872, and held that office for fourteen years in succession. The mother was born in Anderson County, in 1817, and is the daughter of William Dail, native of North Carolina. Our subject was reared on the farm, and attended the neighborhood schools. August 7, 1861, he enlisted in Company C, of the Second Federal Regiment Tennessee Infantry. He was captured at Rodgerville, Tenn., November 6, 1863, and confined in Confederate prisons, at Belle Isle, Libby and Andersonville, and September 9 1864, was removed to Charleston, SC, and finally discharged in the following December. While en route to Charleston he made his escape from the cars at Augusta, Ga., but, after walking sixty miles, was picked up by Confederate patrols and carried to prison again. He was mustered out of service, at Knoxville, in February 1865, and returned to his home in Anderson County. For a year following the war he farmed, and then decided to improve his education, and entered school at Bushy Fork. For a year he attended school at different places, and then began teaching. On March 19 1868 (his wedding day), he borrowed a copy of Blackstone, and began to read law. He was admitted to the bar, in 1872, and at once began practicing in Clinton, and continued until August 1886, when he was elected judge of the Second Judicial Circuit. He was married March 19, 1868, to Mary L Duncan, who was born June 6, 1816, daughter of Alfred Duncan, of Anderson County. To this union eight children have been born, four of whom are dead. Our subject and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. On March 3, 1881, Judge Hicks met with a railroad accident, near Clinton, by which he lost his right arm.
Elijah Jennings was born in Anderson County, November 18, 1825, and is the son of Jesse and Nancy (Pearson) Jennings. The father was a native of Anderson County, and was a farmer. He was the son of Daniel Jennings, a native of England, who immigrated to Virginia, and from that State came to Tennessee, being one of the pioneers of Anderson County. The mother was born in Blount County, Tenn., and died in about 1850. Our subject was reared on the farm, and attended the schools of the neighborhood. He has followed farming as a vocation, making a success of the same, and now owns a good farm of over 300 acres. He served in the was of the United States with Mexico, volunteering under the second call for volunteers, and joined Company C, Capt. Kirkpatrick, of Col. Heiskell’s regiment of Kentucky Infantry. He served through the war, and was discharged from the ranks and sent to the hospital at New Orleans, a few weeks prior to the close of the war. After the war he returned home and resumed farming, which he continued until the fall of 1862, when he enlisted in the Confederate Army, joining the body-guard of Maj. Gen. McCowan. He served until the spring of 1863, when he was discharged for disabilities, and sent to the hospital. After the war he returned home, and has been engaged in farming up to the present time. He was married in 1847 to Mary Wilson, nee Galbraith, who died about 1865. He was married, the second time, in 1866, to Nancy Peoples, of Sullivan County, Tenn., who was born about 1844. To this union two children were born, one of whom is living. The wife died in 1869, and our subject was again married, in August, 1874, to Emaline Arnold, who, was born in Hawkins County, Tenn., in 1846. To this union seven children have been born, six of whom are living. Our subject is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and his wife of the Methodist.
Noble Johnson, a leading farmer of the Twelfth District, was born in Anderson County, October 15, 1829. He is the son of C.S. and Jane (Lynort) Johnson. The father was born in Knox County, December 3, 1797, and was the son of Kinzie Johnson, who settled on the farm where our subject now resides, before a treaty was made with the Indians. Our subject’s father died April 16,1881. The mother was born in Pennsylvania September 15, 1798, and died March 22, 1880. The parents were married in 1814. Both were members of the Baptist Church. Our subject was reared on the farm, and attended the schools of the neighborhood and of Clinton. He followed farming until the outbreak of the war, and in 1862 enlisted in Company K, Capt. Butler, of Thomas’ Legion of Indians and Highlanders, of the Confederate Army. He went West at the close of the war, and followed blacksmithing about six years, and then returned to Anderson County. He is now living in a house erected in 1797. He was married October 19, 1854, to Nancy M.A. Peak, who was born January 19, 1870, he married Francis B. Morris, who was born July 4, 1854, and died August 30, 1886. Of nine children eight are living. Our subject is a member of the Baptist Church.
W.W. Keebler, our subject, was born in Anderson County, Tenn., July 13, 1849. He is the son of Samuel and Rosa (Johnson – relative of Andrew Johnson) Keebler. The father was born in Pennsylvania, and of German parentage. The mother was born in Tennessee, of English and German Parentage. Our subject was reared on the farm, and received his primary education in the log school-house of early times. When fifteen years of age he entered school at Clinton, Tenn., and attended two years, and then taught his first school. Later he attended school at the Flint Springs Academy, Bradley County, and later the schools at Boon Creek Seminary, in Washington County, Tenn., and still later the schools at Cleveland. At this named place he took up the study of law. In 1876 he finished his law study and was licensed to practice. He entered the political arena in this year, and “stumped” Washington and Sullivan Counties for Tilden and Hendricks. He began his legal practice at Jonesboro, and later located at Clinton, and thence removed to Oliver Springs, his present location. Here he still practices law, merchandises and keeps hotel. He is proprietor of the Central Hotel, the headquarters for commercial men. On November 8, 1876, he was united in marriage with Miss Julia Crouch, daughter of Landen C. Crouch, of Washington County. Two sons (Hawes Augustus and Alga Zenith) and on daughter (Glennie) have blessed the marriage. Our subject commenced business without capital, and is a successful business man. He was the Greenback candidate for joint representative for Knox and Anderson Counties, in 1886, and as such candidate he was endorsed by the Democratic party. He is a Democrat.
W.A. Kirkpatrick, a farmer of the Fifth District, was born in Anderson County March 19, 1836, the son of Robert S. and Sarah R. (King) Kirkpatrick. The father was a native of Virginia, and with his parents settled in Tennessee, when but a child, locating above Clinton on the Clinch River, where the land on which he settled was bought of Gen.Andrew Jackson. He can from Stanton, Va., in 1792. He had been a solider in the War of 1812. The grandfather was a solider in the Revolutionary War. The mother was born in Sullivan County, Tenn., the daughter of Walter King, one of Washington’s body-guards at the surrender of Cornwallis, at which event a pair of the latter general’s silver candlesticks became the possession of Mr. King, and now of our subject. Mr. Kirkpatrick received a common-school education in the course of his home life on the farm, and when he was eighteen he began his management of the old farm, where he and his sister lived together until recently. Our subject, in February, 1887, married Anna M., a daughter of Nicholas White, of Knox County. Mr. Kirkpatrick was acting justice for ten years, and is a Republican.
Goodspeed’s pages 1112 – 1114