Napoleon B. Cross, farmer of Hardeman County, is a native of Madison County, born May 4, 1840, the fourth of eight children born to Richard D. and Sarah (Springfield) Cross, both natives of Chatham County, N.C. They were married in North Carolina, February 23, 1832, and in 1839 immigrated to Tennessee, settled in Madison County and lived there eleven years. In 1850 they moved to Hardeman County and settled ten miles west of Bolivar. The father was born April 7, 1809, and died in Hardeman County April 29, 1874. The mother was born May 21, 1811, and the next year after her husband’s death she moved to the home of her daughters, Emily and Eddie; the former is the widow of Thomas A. Green who died in 1872.
Napoleon B., after receiving a good education, selected farming as his occupation, and in 1868 came in possession of the old homestead, which he purchased in 1879. He owns 1,200 acres of land, and December 11, 1867, was united in marriage to Miss Lizzie Jarmon, a native of Hardeman County. To them have been born the following family: Robert D. born September 7, 1868; Napoleon R., born December 6, 1874, and John B., born April 30, 1881. In 1861 Mr. Cross enlisted in Company E, Seventh Tennessee Regiment Cavalry, was received into Gen. Forrest’s command and remained under him throughout the war, taking part in the battles of Harrisburg, Miss., Brice’s Cross-roads, Miss., Fort Pillow, Tenn., and several others. He received two wounds, one at Britton’s Lane in 1863, the other at Harrisburg in 1864. Received his honorable discharge in the spring of 1865 at Memphis. Mr. Cross is a Democrat, and although not a member of any church is in sympathy with the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which his wife is a worthy member.
Transcribed by David Donahue
Source: Goodspeed Pub. Co. History of Tennessee: From the Earliest Time to the Present ; Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Fayette and Hardeman Counties, Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Original Observations, Reminiscences, Etc., Etc. Nashville: Goodspeed Pub. Co, 1887.