Madison County, TNGenWeb

Source: Moore, John T, and Austin P. Foster. Tennessee, the Volunteer State, 1769-1923. Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co, 1923.

Charles Galloway Blackard, a member of one of the old and highly respected families of Tennessee, is engaged in the practice of law in Nashville and although one of the more recent additions to the bar of this city, he has already won recognition as an able advocate and safe counselor who has a high conception of the dignity and responsibility of his profession. He was born in Somerville, Fayette county, Tennessee, June 21, 1895, and is a son of James Washington Blackard, president of Lambuth College at Jackson, Tennessee, and a well known writer on religious subjects. James W. Blackard was born at Huntersville, Madison county, this state, and became a resident of Jackson. When a young man he took up the study of theology and was ordained a minister of the gospel in the Methodist Episcopal church, South. He has filled many important charges in the Memphis conference and for twelve years was presiding elder of the leading district of the conference. He has been a delegate to the General Conference and in 1901 was one of the delegates to the Ecumenical Methodist Conference, which was held in London, England, that year. He is a man of high intellectual attainments and a talented writer who has made frequent contributions to church papers and magazines, being at present engaged in preparing a book on the Life of Christ. His powers and talents have been a leavening force in making high ideals a tangible asset in the affairs of daily life and his influence has been a beneficial factor for good. He was a son of Wiley F. and Teresa Matilda (Wilie) Blackard, who became residents of Huntersville and later removed to Jackson, Tennessee. Wiley F. Blackard was prominent in civic affairs of that place, serving on the board of aldermen for ten years, and for six years he was sheriff of Madison county. He was a Knights Templar Mason and a veteran of the Civil war, serving under General Forrest. His son, James W. Blackard, married Louise Francis White, a daughter of James and Emma Haraldson (Davie) White. Her father was a successful farmer residing in Madison county, Tennessee, and he also served in the Confederate army, his commanding officer being General Forrest.

After finishing his grammar school course Charles G. Blackard attended the Haywood County high school at Brownsville, Tennessee, winning the declamation medal, and he then became a student at the Emory and Henry College at Emory, Virginia, from which he received the A. B. degree in 1917, being also awarded a medal in recognition of his ability as a debater. He next entered the law school of Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee, from which he was graduated in 1920 with the LL. B. degree, being class orator. In June of the same year he was admitted to the bar at Nashville and he now maintains offices in the Stahlman building in this city. He has a thorough knowledge of statute and precedent and in a profession which requires a keen intellect and untiring application he is steadily advancing, his success coming to him because of his close reasoning, his logical argument, his correct application of legal principles and his ability to present his contention in the strongest possible light. He has already won a liberal clientele for one of his years and his business in the courts is steadily increasing in volume and importance.

Mr. Blackard’s military record is a most creditable one. He is a veteran of the World war, enlisting in the First Officers Training Camp at Blacksburg, Virginia, on the 2d of May, 1917, and on the 11th of that month he reported for duty at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. He was transferred to the air service and on July 1, 1917, he became a student at the Military Aeronautic Ground School at Atlanta, Georgia, in which he completed a course of instruction. He was then ordered to Wilbur Wright field at Dayton, Ohio, reaching there on the 15th of August. He was stationed at that point until the 17th of December, when he was sent to Ellington Field, Texas, and on March 22, 1918, was commissioned pilot second lieutenant in the air service. On April 8, 1918, he was ordered to Camp Dick, Dallas, Texas, where he remained until the 1st of May, when he was transferred to Post Field at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and there acted as pilot instructor to aerial observers. On the 7th of June he became pilot instructor to aerial gunners at Selfridge Field, Mount Clemens, Michigan, and was thus occupied until ordered overseas on September 11, 1918. He embarked on the 16th of that month and was assigned as an officer to the Ninth Aero Squadron on the Meuse-Argonne front. After the signing of the armistice he went with his squadron and the Third Army to Trier, Germany, with the Army of Occupation and was on duty until May 15, 1919, when he was ordered back to the United States. He landed at New York city on the 22d of June and was honorably discharged from the army August 2, 1919, at Camp Gordon, Georgia. He is a member of the One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Tennessee National Guard Aero Squadron, holding a commission of pilot first lieutenant from the time the squadron was organized.

Mr. Blackard is a member of the West End Methodist church of Nashville. He is not actively interested in political affairs. He served as journal clerk in the upper house of the state senate of Tennessee in 1921, but has neither sought nor desired political preferment. He is a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, having represented his fraternity chapter at the National Fraternity convention held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1919-1920, and while attending high school, college and university played on both the baseball and football teams. He is a young man of high purposes and ideals, who is actuated by the laudable ambition to progress, and industry and ability are carrying him rapidly forward in his profession, while his admirable personal qualities have won for him the unqualified respect and esteem of all with whom he has been associated.