Flippin, B. J.
B. J. Flippin, the oldest living child of the above, was born in Lauderdale
County, October 4, 1841, was raised on a farm, and had few educational
advantages. He remained at home until 1861 when he went into the Confederate
Army as second-lieutenant in the First Tennessee Heavy Artillery, and after
the battle of Vicksburg he was made captain of Company F. Fifteenth Tennessee
Cavalry, and held that rank to the end. In 1864 he was captured in northern
Mississippi, and held three months at Fort Delaware, but was exchanged at City
Point, Va., then re-entered the service and made the final surrender at
Gainesville, Ala. Since the war his chief business has been railroading —
ten years of the time in Mississippi, and for three years he merchandised
there. In 1879 he moved to Haywood County, and farmed; in 1882 he took charge
of the station at Flippin, where he is also engaged in merchandising. In 1865
he married Miss Neeley Keeton, by whom he has two sons: Robert K., a student
at McKenzie, and Benjamin M., educated at Janesville, Wis., and operator and
railroad clerk at Ripley, Tenn. Mr. and Mrs. Flippin are both Missionary
Baptists. While in Haywood county, he was road commissioner and tax
collector, and for sixteen years has been in the employ of two railroad
companies, as brakeman, yard-master, agent and conductor.
Goodspeed’s Biographies of Lauderdale Co., TN