T. G. BUCHANAN, senior member of the firm of Buchanan & Woods, was born March 25, 1852, in Lincoln County, Tenn. His father was T. W. BUCHANAN, who moved to this county before the war and to Shelbyville about the close of the war. He was an extensive merchant of Shelbyville. In 1878 he was joined by the subject of this sketch, and the firm was then known as T.W. Buchanan & Son. He died November 4, 1884, leaving a family of five children and their mother, Sarah (Davis) BUCHANAN. T.W. BUCHANAN was a very prominent citizen of this county. He was a director of the National Bank, a director of the Sylvan Mills, and was prominently connected with the school interests of Bedford County. He was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and a liberal supporter of all charitable and benign institutions.
The immediate subject of this sketch was reared on a farm, and received a good early education. He clerked in his father’s store five years previous to entering the firm (1878). Since then he has been very successfully engaged in merchandising. The firm now do a yearly business of about $50,000 and carry about $25,000 stock of dry goods, clothing, hats, caps, boots and shoes, gents furnishing goods, etc. Mr. BUCHANAN is a director in the Sylvan Mills, and owns about 1,000 acres of land. He married, in 1878, C. S. WHITE, born in this county. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. BUCHANAN is an enterprising and influential businessman of Shelbyville. J. A. WOODS, junior member and buyer in the firm of Buchanan & Woods, was born November 8, 1861, near Wartrace, Bedford County, being a son of George B. WOODS, who was a merchant of Shelbyville. The father was born in Coffee County, and in his childhood moved to Bedford County, near Wartrace, where he lived till 1863 when he came to Shelbyville. He was president of the Bedford County Temperance Association; he was also identified with the school interests of the county.
He married Miss Margaret CLARK, who became the mother of three children, J. A. being the eldest. The father died August 12, 1880, and the mother is now living. J. A. was reared in Shelbyville, and clerked in his father’s store. After his father’s death he engaged with T. W. Buchanan & Son as salesman and buyer, continuing in that capacity till January 1, 1884, when he entered the firm of Buchanan & Woods. He is a member of the Y.M.C.A., and takes an active interest in Sunday-school work; he is now assistant superintendent of the Presbyterian Sunday-school here.
Transcribed by Kathryn Hopkins
Source: 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.