Gen. W. J. Broaddus, attorney, and editor of the Houston County News, was born in Trenton, Todd Co., Ky., December 23, 1826. His parents were William and Jane E. T. (Moore) Broaddus. The father was a merchant, and after 1836 lived in Clarksville, Tenn. He was a man of integrity and a highly respected citizen. The mother was a very pious Christian, and died in 1840 when Gen. Broaddus was but fourteen years old. Four of the family of seven children survived the parents, our subject being the eldest. He was educated in the old Male Academy at Clarksville, Tenn., and partly at Lexington, Ky., where he attended one year. In 1847 he returned to Clarksville and began the practice of law, which he continued there till 1851. On June 10, 1850, he married Miss M. E. Carter, daughter of Dr. B. N. Carter, of Aetna Furnace. In 1851 Mr. Broaddus removed to Centerville, Hickman Co., Tenn., and practiced his profession there a year or so. He then purchased an interest in the Mount Aetna Furnace, which he sold in 1853. He then became interested in the Clark Furnace in Stewart County. In 1859 he sold out his interest and returned to Clarksville to resume the practice of law till 1859, when he located at Paris, Tenn., and remained till the breaking out of the war. In 1865 he was appointed clerk and master of the Chancery Court of Stewart County, and practiced law till 1867, when he was elected attorney-general of the Tenth Judicial District. In 1870 he retired from the office, removed to Nashville and entered into a law partnership with Judge John A. Campbell. He was instrumental in securing the passage of the bill creating Houston County. After eight months in Nashville he returned to Houston County, and has ever since practiced law there, except a short time while he edited a paper at Guthrie, Ky. He also now edits the Houston County News. He has been blessed with a family of eight children, four of whom died in infancy and four of whom survive, viz.: John F., Edward N., Sallie Ann and Mary L., all of whom are grown. Before the war Mr. Broaddus was a Whig, but since has been a Democrat. He was licensed as a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church South in 1867, and was afterward ordained deacon. He is a very prominent citizen of Houston County.

Transcribed by Susan Knight Gore

Source: Goodspeed, Weston A, and John Wooldridge. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Montgomery, Robertson, Humphreys, Stewart, Dickson, Cheatham and Houston Counties. Nashville: Goodspeed Pub. Co, 1886.