Benjamin M. Flippin, one of the early settlers of West Tennessee, is a son of
John and Nancy (Neel) Flippin. Both parents were born in East Tennessee;
they ran down the Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to the mouth of
Forked Deer River, and up that river to Key Corner, arriving in 1822, when
the surrounding country was a mass of cane and pea vines, full of wild animals
and game. They cleared a place and built a cabin, and in this wilderness
raised their family of nine children; five boys and three girls lived to be
grown. Both parents were pious Methodists. In 1837 the mother died, and
three years later the father; and braver hearts, more devoted parents, never
faced the hardships of Western wilds. The Flippin family is of Irish
extraction. Our subject was the fifth son, and was born January 1, 1819 in
Knox County, Tenn., and his early education was obtained from nature, as most
of his time was spent in hunting game. When only eighteen years old, he went
on the river and followed keel-boating, flat-boating, etc. In 1838 he
married Eliza J. Caldwell, who was born January 16, 1825. They had nine
children; four boys and two girls lived to be grown, and all of the boys
served their country in the late war. Bird S. died a prisoner at Rock Island,
Ill., and the other three escaped with a wound. Both parents are Cumberland
Presbyterians; in politics Mr. Flippin was a Whig, but since that party ceased
he has been a Democrat. For three years he was postmaster at Flippin, the
office having been names in honor of him. He has given his time to farming
and trading in land and stock; he has won distinction as a veterinary surgeon
in Lauderdale and adjoining counties, and as a business man has been quiet
successful, though the war nearly ruined him. Mrs. Flippin died in 1883, and
he has remained a widower, being now sixty-seven years of age.

Goodspeed’s Biographies of Lauderdale Co., TN