J. J. McCORKLE, farmer, was born in Sullivan County, January 4, 1846, the son of Samuel and Lucinda (Colbaugh) McCORKLE, the former a native of Tennessee, and born in 1818, the son of Joseph, a native of Pennsylvania, and of Irish origin. The father was a highly successful farmer, and died in 1885. The mother, born in 1812, in Sullivan County, was the daughter of John COLBAUGH, a soldier in the war of 1812, and a farmer. Their children were William M., John J., Eliza, Mary, Martha, Susan and Harriet.
Our subject educated himself by the light of a pine knot, and has been very succesiful as a farmer. When seventeen years old he joined Company H, Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry, and was mustered out April 6, 1866, as captain, in the First United States Artillery. He has since been farming, and for five years was a trustee, and for four years a sheriff. September 20 1866, he married Ruthey E., a daughter of John and Louise (Amess) HENTRIX, and born in Carter County January 15,1849. They have eight sons and four daughters. He and his wife are members of the Christian Church, of which he is an elder. He is an able and esteemed man.
Transcribed by Kris L. Martin
Source: Goodspeed Publishing Co. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of from Twenty-Five to Thirty Counties of East Tennessee. Chicago: Goodspeed, 1887.