Member of Tennessee Senate, 32nd General Assembly, 1857-59; representing Hancock, Hawkins, and Jefferson counties; Whig. Born in Knox County on November 5, 1823; son of Frederick Steidinger and Mary Eliza (Brown) Heiskell. Graduated from East Tennessee College, 1840; studied law and admitted to the bar; began to practice at Madisonville, Monroe County. He was married (1st) to Sarah McKinney, daughter of John Augustine and Eliza (Ayer) McKinney; apparently no children born to this union. He married (2nd) at Rogersville, Hawkins County, on May 21, 1846, to Mary Lucy Watkins; children–Eliza (Mrs. Caesar Weatherford), Mary McKinney, Frederick Hugh, John McKinney, Charles J., Netherland, and Alice Heiskell (Mrs. Horace A. Whaling). Removed to Rogersville in 1847 and continued practice. Elected twice to the Congress of the Confederate States of America; captured by Federal soldiers in 1864 and remained in prison until the end of the war. After the war he established his practice in Memphis, Shelby County. Represented Shelby County in Constitutional Convention of 1870. Tennessee Attorney-General and reporter, 1870-78. Trustee of University of Tennessee. Died in Memphis on March 7, 1913; buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis. Son of Frederick S. Heiskell, nephew of William Heiskell, cousin of Samuel Gordon, sometime member of Tennessee General Assembly; brother of Carrick W. Heiskell, circuit court judge of Memphis; father of Frederick Hugh Heiskell, Chancellor of Chancery Court and Judge of Court of Appeals, Shelby County.

Sources: Hyskell, Early Heiskells, 22, 38-40; Green, Law and Lawyers, 128; University of Tennessee Record, I, (1892), 243.

From Biographical Directory: Tennessee General Assembly, 1796-1967, Issue 3