J. N. CARRIGER, a retired woolen manufacturer, was born June 25, 1841 in Carter County. He is self educated, and ilt 1862 organized Company A, of the Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry, and afterward became second lieutenant and first lieutenant, and refused the offer of captaincy. He was mustered Out at Knoxville in 1865. He then clerked for Butler & Co. two years, and then went to Morristown, and clerked for M. Carriger & Co. a year, and then became partner, continuing under various firm names for twelve years. He was United States mail agent on the C. C. G. & C. Railway, February 16, 1871, and afterwards mail messenger between Morristown and Warm Springs, N.C. After four years he purchased a part of Mineral Hill Springs, assuming control of them, the firm being Brown, Carriger & Smith. A few months later he farmed in Carter County, and became successively a partner in the firm Doe River Woolen Manufacturing Company, and the Watauga Woolen Mills, with entire control of the business.
In 1882 these were consolidated under the first firm name, and he became secretary and treasurer, and in 1883 was given entire control. He retired in 1885 on account of failing health, and was so successful that with a capital of $30,000, his company declared a seven and one-half percent dividend. In 1861 he married Mary C. FERGUSON. Both are Baptists, in which church he has been a deacon for eight years. He is a Republican, and a member of the G.A.R. His parents John T. and Rebecca (Nave) CARRIGER, were natives of Carter County, and died in 1862, aged fifty-five, and 1886, aged about seventy-six, respectively, the former a trustee for twelve years, and a justice. He was a Whig and an active Baptist. Our subject was city recorder of Morristown two years. The grandparents, Christian and Lavicy (Ward) CARRIGER, were pioneers of this county, the former a representative several terms, and both were natives of Philadelphia. The latter’s grandmother was a cousin of Abraham LINCOLN.
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.