JOHN CATNER is a native Tennesseean, born in 1805, son of Lewis and Polly (Smith) CATNER, who were born in North Carolina. The father’s birth occurred about 1795. He came to Tennessee in 1813 and located in Bedford County, where he lived until his death. Our subject was his second child and assisted his father on the farm until twenty-two years of age. He then worked as a farm laborer seven years and then purchased a small tract of land to which he has since added until he now owns about 1,200 acres, which he has secured by his own exertions.
He is worth about $75,000, and was married, in 1839, to Polly RAY, who bore him one child, Martha (wife of Samuel Wood), and died at her birth. In 1861 Mr. CATNER married Mrs. Margaret (Smith) HALL. He is a man of limited education, but is abounding in common sense and wholesome doctrines. In politics he is a member of the Democratic party, and is a strictly honest and upright man.
Transcribed by Kathryn Hopkins
Goodspeed Publishing Co. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford & Marshall Counties, Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Reminescences [Sic], Observations, Etc., Etc. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1988.