NATHANIEL L. DRYDEN was born January 22, 1839, and is one of three children born to the union of Thomas and Mary H. (Dickson) Dryden. The father was born in Virginia in 1796, and when a youth he, with his father, immigrated to Tennessee and settled in Bedford County. He was married in 1824 and became the father of eleven children.
The father and mother of out subject were members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The former died in 1863 and the latter in 1876. Our subject was born in Bedford County, Tenn., and was given an education in the country schools of the day. In 1867 he wedded Miss Sarah J. Llewellyn, a native of Indiana. To this union were born eight children: Hubert E., John W., Mary L., Annie, Maggie H., David D., Thomas F. and Nathaniel L., Jr. Daniel D. died March 31, 1884. Mr. Dryden owns 373 acres of land in the Twentieth District, and deals in cattle, sheep, etc. He is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and a leading man in the county. The family is of Scotch-Irish descent.
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.