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Son of Frederick Heiskell (1752-1815) and Catherine Von Steidinger (1761-1799).

Husband of Eliza Brown, whom he married on 18 Jul. 1816 in Jonesboro, Washington County, Tennessee. Father of nine children: Joseph Brown I; Margaret Brown; Joseph Brown II; Hugh Brown; Ann Eliza Peay; Margaret Alexander White; Susan Jacobs; Carrick White; and Ferdinand. As a child, he lived in Frederick County, Virginia. After learning the printer’s trade from an older brother John, he moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he worked as a printer. Two years later, in 1816, he founded the Knoxville Register, which he ran in partnership with his brother-in-law, Hugh Brown. In 1836, he sold the paper and went to live on a large farm outside of Knoxville, which he called “Fruit Hill”; in 1882 he relocated to Rogersville. Over the years, he served three terms as a State senator. F. S. Heiskell has been called “The Father of Tennessee Journalism.” His wife Eliza Brown was the daughter of Mary Harbison and Joseph Brown, who immigrated from Ireland, served in the Revolutionary War, and was an early sheriff of Washington County, Tennessee.

Submitted by Pamela Hahn Pierce