Category Archives: Biography

WILLS, H.B.

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H. B. Wills, farmer, was born in Johnson County, April 4, 1857, the son of Russell B. and Elizabeth R. (Duff) Wills, the former born in this county July 7, 1820, the son of Lewis and Catherine (Winsell) Wills, pioneers of East Tennessee. The mother was born in 1828, in Washington County, Va., the daughter of David B. and Sarah Duff. Our subject is one of six sons and three daughters, and was reared on the farm be now owns and cultivates-a fine farm of 158 acres on the headwaters of the Laurel, in the First District. In 1882 he married Sarah E., daughter of James D. and Frances C. Donnelly. They now have three children-Girtie, Robert H. and Francis H. He and his wife are Methodists, and he a respected member of the I. O.O. F. lodge.

Transcribed from Godspeed’s History of TN (1896)

WILLS, James N.

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James N. Wills was born in Johnson County, November 3, 1858, the son of Peter D. and Sophia J. (McQuonn) Wills. The father was born in this county, January 16, 1816, the son of Lewis, who was of German descent. The mother was born in Washington County, Va., August 20, 1821, the daughter of Thomas McQuonn, who was of Scotch origin. Our subject was reared on the farm and attended the common schools of this county, and since early manhood has been a most successful farmer. He has served as trustee. elected by the county court in 1881, to fill an unexpired term. He is a Republican and a member of the I. O.O. F. lodge.

Transcribed from Godspeed’s History of TN (1896)

WILLS, Norman H.

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Norman H. Wills, farmer, was born in this county October 18; 1847, the son of Peter D. and Sophia J. (McQuonn) Wills, the former born January 16, 1816, in this county the son of Lewis, who in turn was son of Lewis, Sr., a native of Strasburg, Germany, and a pioneer of this state. The father was an extensive farmer, and accumulated property. His death occurred July 14, 1878. The mother was born in Washington County, Va., August 20, 1821, the daughter of Thomas and Mary (Wilson) McQuonn, the former of Scotch-Irish descent, born in Pennsylvania, the son of Thomas, Sr., also a farmer. The mother died March 2, 1877, and had the following children: Macon H., Norman H., Virginia C., James N., Francis C. and Sarah H. Our subject was educated at LibertyHall, Virginia, and was reared on the farm. Martha A. Hawthorn, of Washington County, Va., became his wife October 13, 1870, and died January 17, 1874. He next married Martha C., a daughter of Maj. James and Harriet M. (Farthing) Brown, December 11, 1877. She was born in this county July 19, 1852, and their children are Lura J. and Lewis Karl; the former born October 4, 1878, and the latter July 22, 1885.

Transcribed from Godspeed’s History of TN (1896)

WILLS, D.W.

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D. W. Wills, clerk and master in chancery, was born in this county March 11, 1835, the son of John D. and Mary D. (Neel) Wills, the former born in this county December 28, 1808, the son of Peter, a native of Virginia, who came to this county about 1799. He was a large land owner and farmer. The father, a successful farmer also, died December 17, 1856. The mother was born near Abingdon, Va., about 1811, the daughter of Bartholomew Neel, and was a Methodist, as was her father. Our subject grew up with rural advantages, and farmed up to the war. In 1865 he became deputy sheriff for eight years and in August, 1882, became magistrate, and in September, 1885, was appointed to his present position by Chancellor St. John. In October, 1853, he married Mary, a daughter of Samuel Cress, who died in January, 1873, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They had six children. Nancy, a daughter of Moore Robinson, became his wife October 17, 17, 1875. One of their three children is deceased. His wife is a Baptist.

Transcribed from Godspeed’s History of TN (1896)

SUTHERLAND, J.A.

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J. A. Sutherland, farmer and stock raiser, was born in this county, August 7, 1841, the son of Joseph and Sarah (King) Sutherland, the former born in Grayson County, VA., July 9, 1788, the son of Alexander, a native of Scotland, who came as a British soldier in the Revolution, and first fought at Bunker Hill. After the war he left the army and settled in Virginia, where be married Margaret Bryant, of Irish descent. She was mother of two sons and seven daughters. Our subject’s father first married Susan Robinson, by whom he has six children. She died in North Carolina, and November 16, 1824, he married Sarah, a daughter of John and Nancy (Collet) King. She was born in North Carolina November 10, 1803, and was the mother of three sons and seven daughers. She died August 1, 1874, and the father January 10, 1867. Our subject was reared in the country, and, although beginning life as a poor man, he is now a prosperous farmer. He went to Indiana in 1863 and enlisted in the Federal Army, serving with Sherman on famous march. October 14, 1874, he married Sarah D. Wills. The mother died in in 1886, and their only son in 1887. Our subject is a Mason and a Methodist, and has served sheriff and treasurer of the county.

Transcribed from Godspeed’s History of TN (1896)

SMYTHE, Thomas S.

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Thomas S. Smythe, lawyer, was born in Washington County, Va., June 29, 1827, and is the son of Dr. James C. and Ann H. (Orr) Smythe, the former born in the above county July 7, 1790, the son of John A., a native of Ireland, who came to America as a clerk Lord Cornwallis’ army, and at the close of the Revolution settled in Pennsylvania, and married Caroline Hays. He then went to Virginia, engaging in boot and shoe making and afterward in farming and trading. He died, while on a trading expedition, at Natchez, Miss., in 1795. Dr. J. C. was reared where Emory and Henry College now stands, and studied law at Jonesboro with E. F. Sevier and J. A. Aiken as classmates. He then exchanged his law library for medical works, and began practice in Virginia, and in 1837 in this county, and finally, in 1854, in Henry County, where he died two years later. He was the first resident physician of this county, and was highly esteemed as a man and physician. The mother was born June 2, 1802, in Virginia, the daughter of John Orr, a native of Pennsylvania. She died in 1863. Our subject, the eldest son of nine children learned the tanner’s trsde, at which he worked until after his thirtieth year. In 1858 he became magistrate of this county, and in 1861 chairman of the county court. He was appointed magistrate by Gov. Brownlow, and in 1865 became clerk and master. He soon afterward began the practice of law, continuing until 1882, when he became a clerk in the pension department at Washington, where he remained until February, 1883, when he became special examiner to travel through Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Missouri. On June 15, 1886, he resumed practice in Mountain City, and has succeeded finely as a lawyer. In March, 1881, he was commissioned special judge by Gov. Hawkins. On February 22, 1849, he married Margaret, a daughter of Richard Donnelly, and born near Mountain City December 2, 1828. Five sons and two daughters, of nine children, are living.

Transcribed from Godspeed’s History of TN (1896)

MURPHEY, Kemp

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Kemp Murphey, the most extensive merchant of this county, was born here July 21, 1841, and is the son of Abraham and Mary Murphy. The former was born in Orange County, N. C., May 18, 1796, and the latter in Caswall County, N.C. Abraham Murphey was the son of John Murphy, a native of Orange County, N. C., who immigrated to Claiborne County, Tenn., in the year 1798, and died in his eighty-second year. He was married three times; first to Sarah Purvine in the year 1813, who bore him two sons and one daughter; secondly to Mary Walker, who bore him three sons; and thirdly to Catherine Wills, September 13,1857. He removed from Claiborne County, Tenn., to New Market, Jefferson Co., Teon., about the year 1833. Thence he removed to Eiizabethton, Carter Co., Teon., and engaged in the mercantile business; thence to Dugger’s Ferry In the laet named county; thence into this (Johnson County), where he engaged in the manufacture of iron; and in merchandising, which two callings he pursued until the beginning of the war in 1861. After the war he settled at Mountain City, then called Taylorsville, and engaged in the mercantile business in partnership with two of his sons, Kemp and Elbert, under the firm name of Murphey & Sons. He retired from thefirm in the year 1875, after which the two brothers continued the business uritil July 27, 1884, when Elbert one of the brothers died, and since then Kemp, the surviving partner, has continued the business in his own name, and has carried a stock of $8,000, doing an annual business of $20,000. He also owns and operates a large tannery at Mountain City. He was educated at Holston College, New Market, Jefferson Co., Tenn. In the late war he espoused the Union cause, and enlisted in Company B, Fourth Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, and was captured at McMinnville, Tenn., in October, 1862, but was paroled and joined his command at Lexington, Ky. Re was mustered out at Knoxville, Tenn., in 1865. In 1869 he married Susan C. Wills, a daughter of James H. Wills, horn in April, 1853, in this county. They have seven children living. Ha and his wife are Methodists. His father was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, from about the year 1822, continuously, up to his death, which occurred February 6, 1882.

Transcribed from Godspeed’s History of TN (1896)

MOCK, Emanuel Hoser

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Emanuel Hoser Mock, farmer, was born in Washington County, Va., January 19,1838, the son of Henry and Nancy (Gibbs) Mock, the former horn in Surry (now Davy) County, N.C., September 8, 1794, the son of Henry Sr. and Katy (Black) Mock, of German origin. In 1820 the father married Nancy Gibbs, and in 1840 married Mary Katron; Mary K. Wright became his wife in 1857. He is the father of thirty children, and now lives in Virginia. Our subject grew up on the farm, working with his father, until eighteen years of age, when he became a millwright. He continued this thirteen years, and since 1869 has been successfully farming, at his present home, where he now owns 400 acres, although be began life with little capital. In 1869 he married Levenia F. Wills, a daughter of H. B. and Rebecca (Duff) Wills, and born in this county August 26, 1851. Their children are Edwin M. L., horn October 31,1870; William H., born October 8,1872; Lewis E., born Apr11 6, 1875; Sophia A., born November 9, 1877; Nancy E., born September 17, 1880; Bessie J., born July 24, 1883, and Charles II., born July 2, 1886. He and his wife are Methodists.

Transcribed from Godspeed’s History of TN (1896)

MITCHELL, James S.

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James S. Mitchell, merchant, was horn in this county, December 7, 1849, the son of Ryder M. and Sarah (Slimp) Mitchell, the former born in Stokes County, N. C., in 1819, was the son of John Mitchell. The father became a pioneer farmer of this county, and now lives near Mountain City. The mother was born in this county, in 1815, the daughter of Michael Slimp. Both were members of the Baptist Church. Our subject, the fifth of ten children, was reared with rural advantages, and in 1870 began, alternately, teaching and attending school, for about four years. In 1879 he became a merchant’s clerk, and January 1, 1884, began his present business, in which he carries a stock of about $4,000, and does an annual business of ahottt $15,000. September 6, 1578, he married Alice, the daughter of Jones and Mary (Smithpeter) Smith, the former born in 1819, a son of Daniel Smith. She was horn in Carter County, July 18, 1855. Their only daughter, Mary B., was horn May 18, 1877.

Transcribed from Godspeed’s History of TN (1896)

GRANT, H.T.

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H. T. Grant, farmer, was born in 1848 in Washington County, Va., the third of ten children of Archibald S. and Margaret (Orr) Grant, natives of that county, and of English origin. He was a farmer and stock dealer, and both were active Methodists. The grandparents Archibald and Jennie (McGinnis) Grant, natives of England and Washington County, respectively. The former was brought to this country when a child; first to Kingston, NC., then to Maryland, and finally to Washington County, Va., where he died, as a farmer. His wife was the daughter of Archibald afid Polly (Hope) Orr, natives of the same county, the former, a son of James, a native of Ireland, and a weaver by trade, one of whose instruments is owned by H. T. Our subject was thirteen years old when they came this county, and after his education, when twenty years old, he began for himself, with a little inherited property. In 1862 he enlisted in Company A, Fifth North Carolina Confederate Cavalry, and served at Chickamauga, and until the surrender of Johnston’s army. August 28, 1877, he married Frances, a daughter of Peter and Sophia (McCowan) Wills, natives of this county and Virginia, respectively, and of German and Irish origin. He and his wife are Methodists, and he is a Democrat.

Transcribed from Godspeed’s History of TN (1896)