W. L. CARRIGER, the subject of this sketch, is one of the leading citizens of Carter County, Tenn., and was born in the Ninth Civil District of said county, October 3, 1853, and is the son of John T. and Rebecca (Nave) CARRIGER. The father was a native of Carter County, Tenn., and was the son of Christley CARRIGER, an early settler of Carter County. The father was a farmer, and one of the most enterprising and prominent citizens of the county. The mother was also a native of Carter County, Tenn., and was the daughter of Abe NAVE. She was the mother of six sons and five daughters.
Our subject is the youngest but three, and was raised on the farm, and received a practical education at Morristown, Tenn. His father died when William was quite young, and left a small estate to the heirs, but our subject, by energy and industry, secured an education at his own expense; and, when lie reached his majority, he had no capital to begin the battle of life, and the pursuit for wealth.
His early labor was that of farming at home with his widowed mother, and with her he lived, until a short period after his marriage which occurred when he was twenty two years of age, and on the tenth day of May, 1876 he married Mollie L. MORREL, daughter of Caleb MORREL. Five sons, two of which are living, have blessed the marriage. The two living are George Allison and Charles. After our subject’s marriage, he farmed for four years, in the Ninth Civil District of his county, since which he has been trading and merchandising; and is now selling goods and liverying at Elizabethton. He is one of the popular citizens of this county, and this fact was exemplified by his being elected in August, 1882, as county register for Carter County, and by his re-election in August, 1886. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and is a man of enterprise and public spirit, and is one who encourages all laudable enterprises. He is a self-made man, having no capital to begin life with, and has educated himself, and established a high character.
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.