NASHVILLE DAILY AMERICAN, 1876, A GENEALOGICAL SCRAPBOOK
Researched and Compiled by Jonathan Kennon Thompson Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 2003

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NASHVILLE DAILY AMERICAN

January 1, 1876

Funeral of GODFREY M. FOGG, SR. "from the Maxwell House to Christ Church and Mt. Olivet" Saturday, January 1, 1876. A tribute to his memory by the Nashville Bar, in the Davidson Chancery Court, December 31, 1875:

THE LATE G. M. FOGG, SR.         Immediately after the adjournment of the Chancery Court yesterday morning, the members of the Bar of the city were called together to pay a tribute to the memory of the Late Godfrey M. Fogg, Sr. and to pass resolutions of regret at his loss. Hon. Neil S. Brown was called to the chair and Morton B. Howell requested to act as secretary. Upon taking the chair Gov. Brown spoke feelingly and with emotion of the Long and honorable career of Mr. Fogg, their acquaintance extending through half a life time and of the intimate friendship and kind regard that had so long existed between them. At the conclusion of his remarks, on motion of Hon. J. O. Shackelford, it was resolved that a committee of five be appointed to prepare and present resolutions expressive of the feeling of the Bar toward the lamented dead. The chairman appointed as this committee Messrs. J. O. Shackelford, Wm. F. Cooper, Nathaniel Baxter, H. H. Harrison, Jackson B. White. [adjourned] [At the appointed time the resolutions were presented and passed upon by the members of the Bar.]         Whereas it: has pleased Almighty God in his providence to take from our midst our esteemed fellow-citizen and honored and respected brother, G. M. Fogg, Sr. . . . we have met together on this melancholy occasion. Godfrey M. Fogg, Sr. died at midnight on the 30th of December, 1875 in this city which has been his residence for more than half a century. Mr. Fogg was born in Wyndham County, Connecticutt, near Brooklyn, Dec. 26, 1800. His father was a clergyman in the Episcopal Church and young Godfrey was early taught the great truths of the Christian religion, which made such deep and permanent impression upon his heart that they lasted through his long life. He enjoyed the advantage of a New England education. He lived a short time in Boston, then removed to Nashville in 1822 where he has ever since resided. He was engaged first in the land office of John C. McLemore, who was surveyor of this district. He however soon entered the law office of his brother, Francis B. Fogg and Ephraim H. Foster and became a partner, in that celebrated firm, which lasted for more than thirty years, doing the most extensive collecting business, done at that time by any firm in the state. All this amount of collecting passed through the hands of Godfrey M. Fogg who kept a regular set of books, showing his entire transactions for more than thirty years. He was an accurate and well-informed lawyer. Although he made no display of his speaking abilities, his business was correctly and promptly done. He was a man of high social quality. He had a cultivated 1iterary taste and a large fund of general information. He never willingly offended any one and if he supposed any one had taken offense at him he was prompt to correct the error. And now we who had enjoyed his companionship for years, claim the right to mingle our tears with those of his immediate family over the grave. . . .

 

Davidson County Probate Court: J. W. Conley was appointed guardian of Anna V., Andrew H., Sarah C. and N. K. Griffin.

Announcement, Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 31, 1875, that the firm of J. A. Pigue, J. W. Manier and L. W. Hall was this day dissolved. Persons owing the firm money were asked to make an "early settlement" with the three parties involved.

W. H. Trafford, administrator of the estate of Alex. Ledbetter published notice that all persons with claims against this estate should file the same with him; those persons indebted come forward and settle [with him] without delay."

[A tribute to the memory of G. M. Fogg, Sr. was presented by the Board of Directors of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway. January 1, 1876; he had been a member of this board and his "personal merits and wise counsel" were extolled in this tribute. His tombstone in Section 5, Mt. Olivet Cemetery: GODFREY MALBONE FOGG Born in Wyndham Co., Conn., Dec. 26, 1800. Died Dec. 30, 1875]

Page 2. An article dealing with the religious background of James G. Blaine, an aspirant national politician:

THE RELIGION OF THE BLAINE FAMILY         Religion is becoming so mixed with politics — or vice versa, it does not matter which — that the kind of religious milk candidates for office were raised on, whether they took it from the breast or bottle, has become an all-pervading inquiry. For how can the orthodox or unorthodox voter tell which is which, unless he knows which is the other? The Auburn (N.Y.) ADVERTISER (Rep.), a few days ago, having heard that Mr. Blaine was the son of Catholic parents and raised a Catholic, asked for information on the subject. The Rochester (N.Y.) UNION notices the solicitude of the ADVERTISER and furnishes the following, which it says it is able to verify upon "information furnished by one who knows whereof he speaks:         Squire Blaine, as he was called, the father of ex-Speaker James Gillespie Blaine, was a resident of Fayette County, Pa. He was not a Catholic but married a Miss Gillespie, a member of an old Catholic family who were once wealthy but who, meeting with reverses, emigrated west, some to Texas, and others to southern Illinois. Squire Blaine became a convert to the religious faith and lived and died a firm believer in it. He had five sons and two daughters — James, Ephraim, Neil. Robert and John, and Mary and Eliza and all were brought up strict and practical Catholics. Neil is dead; Ephraim was last heard from in the southwest - in Texas or Mexico. Robert is a clerk in one of the departments at Washington; John is or was an agent of the Post office department; Mary is dead and Eliza is the wife of Robert C. Walker, a paymaster in the army. Paymaster Walker was not a Catholic when he married Miss Blaine but she converted him and the whole family are Catholic. Two of the daughters became nuns. One is dead and the other is somewhere in western Pennsylvania near Pittsburg. The Rev. N. H. Gillespie, a professor in Notre-Dame University, St. Josephs County, Ind., is a cousin of ex-Speaker Baline; so also is Mother Angela, the authoress of the "Metropolitan Reads," a series of Catholic school books. James Gillespie, or "Jim" Blaine, as the ex-Speaker is irreverently called, emigrated from the family home in western Pennsylvania shortly after attaining his majority and graduating at Washington College, Pennsylvania, and took up his residence in Maine where his religion was not popular and he changed it; entered politics; took an editorial chair at Portland and then at Kennebec; was in the legislature from 1859 to 1862, the last two years as Speaker and has since been in the Congress.

 

Nashville's oldest bookseller, W. T. Berry & Company, opened this morning in a new building at the northwest corner of Odd Fellows' Hall Block on Church Street.

 

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Near Lewisburg, Tenn., on December 27, 1875, Dr. J. J. Crunk, living on the Lewisburg and Spring Place Road "shot and killed W. J. Murphy, recently from Murfreesboro and a former policeman in Nashville, Tenn. Several mule buyers were in the Crunk farm lot, trying to persuade the doctor's son to sell some mules to them at the price they suggested; he refused and the men asked to talk with Dr. Crunk and was told by his son that he was in the house, just returned from town and was in no mood for trading. Murphy wasn't satisfied with that, went to the house and fetched the doctor who came with him to the lot. They quarreled and Murphy "knocked down" senior and junior Crunks whereupon Dr. Crunk drew himself, fired his pistol at Murphy's chest, inflicting a mortal wound.

 

January 2, 1876

The Tennessee State Teachers Association convened for a regular business meeting in Knoxville, Tenn., December 30, 1875. Its officers: J. T. Leath, Memphis, president. Vice-Presidents: C. Presnell, Jonesboro; M. C. Butler, Knoxville; E. A. James, Chattanooga; J. P. Trapp, DeKalb County; Judge McConnell, Trousdale County; W. A. Quarles, Montgomery County; Professor C. G. Rogers, Giles County; A. S. Cumming, Gibson County; G. W. Fleece, Shelby County; W. S. Shropshire, Tipton County. Recording Secretary, R. W. Weakley, Davidson County. Treasurer: J. O. Griffith, Davidson County. Corresponding Secretary: S. Y. Caldwell, Nashville.

The Snowden residence, 82 North Summer Street, Nashville, was available for rental for the year 1876.

J. W. Terrass announced that he would offer at public sale the entire hardware stock of Fred Terrass, dec. at 30 Public Square, Nashville, January 3, 1876.

On January 1, 1876 the corpse of Mrs. Sophie Spain, who lived on Rolling Mill Hill, south Nashville, was found dead in her house. An inquest found that she died from "bad treatment and excessive drunkeness." James Warren, who claimed that he had been married to her for nine years, was implicated in her death but there was insufficient evidence to so charge him.

Mary C., wife of J. W. Stanley, died in Nashville, January 1, 1876 aged 39 years and 5 months. Burial in the family graveyard, nine miles on the Granny White Pike.

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The Knights of Honor         At the regular meeting of Vanderbilt Lodge No. 79 K. of H., held, last Friday night, the following officers were elected for the ensuing term: Dictator, T. C. Rook; Vice Dictator, G. W. Hutchison; Assistant Dictator, Harry Dunn; Reporter, John McDonald; F. Reporter, Geo. H. Wells; Treasurer, Peter McMeekin; Guide, Wm. H. Haslam; Chaplain, W. F. Sloan; Guardian, A. H. Roberts; Sentinel C. H. Everitt; Trustees, S. A. Duling, J. L. Wells and G. W. Hutchison; Representative to the Grand Lodge of Tennessee, John W. Edwards; Past Dictator, S. A. Duling.         North Nashville Lodge, No. 172, elected the following officers, Friday evening, for the ensuing term: Theo. Seitried, Dictator; J. W. Rainey, Vice Dictator; D. W. Peabody, Assistant Dictator; George J. Stoney, Reporter; F. Hall, Financial Reporter; G. M. McCullough, Treasurer; Seb. Rechstiner, Guide; G. E. Taylor, Ch.; Conrad Kridel, Guardian; John Woffort, Sentinel; Jonn Gray, Representative.         The following were elected officers of Olympus Lodge, No. 67, Knights of Honor at its regular meeting: Dictator, J. R. Dayton; Vice Dictator, A. S. Williams; Assistant Dictator, S. M. Wene; Treasurer, D. F. Sharpe; F. Reporter, D. B. Horn; Representative, J. R. Lanier; Chaplain, A. Stalcup; Guide, T. L. Esten; Guardian, J. T. Fryer; Sentinel, W. Lanier. At the conclusion of the meeting a supper was given to the Lodge by a committee of ladies consisting of Mesdames Fryer, Wingrove, Wagoner, Horn, Hutchinson, Myers, Lockart, Sharpe, Lanier and Dayton.

 

J. A. Hays, son of Addison Hays, Cashier of the State National Bank at Memphis, was married yesterday at 9:30 o'clock, at St. Lazarus Church, Memphis, to Miss Margaret H. Davis, daughter of Jefferson Davis.

 

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John Vogel, tailor, offered "the latest fashions and best quality of goods" at his store, 11 North Summer Street, Nashville.

 

January 3, 1876

Issue missing

 

January 4, 1876

Valentine Kessling, white, occupant of a tenement dwelling in Cincinnati, Ohio, threatened a fellow inmate, George Crow, black, but the bully was killed by Crow with a pocket knife, January 2, 1876.

John Pryor Gaines, son of R. T. and Katie A. Gaines, Nashville, died January 3, 1876 aged 11 months.

The North Edgefield Baptist Mission elected its officers, January 2, 1876. R. Patton, superintendent; D. T. Setzer, assistant superintendent; Ernest Crutcher, secretary; J. Ross, treasurer.

An elderly couple, aged 113 (husband) and 111 (wife) years old, surnamed Fruits, had been married for 85 years; residents of Montgomery County, Indiana, he stood straight as a "ramrod" but his wife was afflicted with a forehead cancer, once weighed 225 pounds but now "tips the beam at 125 [lbs.]." [See page 84.]

His New Year's Gift Marriage of J. Addison Hayes, Jr. to the Daughter of Hon. Jefferson Davis Memphis Avalanche, Jan. 2         The long anticipated marriage of Miss Maggie H., eldest daughter of Hon. Jefferson Davis to Mr. J. Addison Hayes, Jr., cashier of the State National Bank of Memphis, was celebrated at St. Lazarus Episcopal church at half past 9 o'clock yesterday morning, in the presence of a very large assemblage. The lovely bride, whose mental and physical charms have won for her such universal admiration, was veritably a New Year's gift to the worthy young gentleman to whom almost, since her advent into society, she has been betrothed. The bridal costume was elegant, the dress being of rich, creamy, white rep silk, of Parisian make, festooned with a scarf of damasce silk, which terminated at the back in a superb cluster of orange blossoms. The corsage was richly trimmed with point Duchesse lace, while the bride's fair brow was decked with a coronal of orange blossoms. The bridesmaids, six in number, looked lovely as lovely could be, and were costumed in white. On the dress of each, among other ornaments, was a wreath of parti-colored fuschias, and each bridesmaid carried in her right hand an exquisitely made bouquet. The bride was given away by her father, and the beautiful, solemn and impressive ceremonies of the Protestant Episcopal Church were performed by Rev. Dr. George White, rector of Calvary, assisted by Rev. Churchill Easton, rector of St. Lazarus.         The attendants were: W. Y. Hamlin and Miss Blanche Speed; W. M. Sneed, Jr., and Miss Sallie Hayes, (sister of the bridegroom); D. L. McKay and Miss Ellen F. Nooe; James S. Richardson and Miss Julia Semmes; Miles Buckingham and Miss Mamie Savage; Jefferson Davis, Jr. and Miss Winnie Davis (brother and sister of the bride.)         After the ceremony, the bride and bridegroom, accompanied by the bride's parents, and Messrs. Hamlin, Sneed, McKay, Richardson, Buckingham and Davis, and Misses Speed, Hayes, Semmes, Savage and Davis, of the bridal party, repaired to Mr. Davis' residence on court street, where the health and happiness of the newly wedded pair were pledged in bumpers of sparkling wine. Mr. And Mrs. Hayes left on the early train for the North.

 

EDGEFIELD         The Board of Alderman met last night, Mayor Brooks presiding. W. M. Brown, Jr., Recorder, submitted his annual report, showing that $7,145.77 had been collected, and $6490.65 expended. The retiring Mayor read his annual Message. Mayor Williams advanced and was sworn in by Recorder Brown. The new Board was called to order by Mayor Williams and sworn in. W. Matt Brown, Jr., and John L. Stubblefield were nominated for Recorder, and Brown elected. Committees were appointed on rules, and to report at the next meeting the officers for election and their salaries. The Board then adjourned until next Monday night.

 

The handsome new uniform for the Porter Rifles arrived yesterday, and the members of the company will secure them today. A dress parade will take place next Saturday.

Cal Wagner opened to a full house last night at McClure's Hall.

The North Edgefield Baptist Mission Sunday School elected the following officers for this year, last Sunday evening: R. Patton, Superintendent; B. T. Setzer, Assistant Superintendent; Ernest Crutcher, Secretary; J. Ross, Treasurer. This school is in a flourishing condition, and receiving new scholars every day.

 

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HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENN., by W.W.Clayton, Nashville, 1880, page 348:

Edgefield, being beautifully situated opposite Nashville, upon a drift or glacial soil, with pure water and healthy country air, and united to the former by a fine wire bridge spanning the Cumberland, naturally invited settlers and drew many of the business men and well-to-do families of Nashville to establish their homes there. Tradesmen, grocers, retail dealers, and manufacturers settled in the place, schools sprang up, and churches were built. Thus Edgefield became in a few years a beautiful, thriving, busy suburban hamlet, with a rapidly-increasing population, with the various institutions which constitute a refined and well-ordered community, and with her proportion of intelligent progressive and professional men. The history of her churches and schools is given under the general heads of ecclesiastical and educational matters in another place. INCORPORATION OF EDGEFIELD.         On the 2nd day of January, 1869, in pursuance of a petition from citizens residing in what was then known as the Seventeenth Civil District of Davidson County, and the order of the County Court of said county, made upon the presentation thereto of said petition, an election was held within the boundaries prescribed by said petition and order, and the corporation of Edgefield inaugurated by the election of W. A. Glenn, Frank Sharp, J. S. Woodford, G. J. Stubblefield, Harvey Campbell, A. G. Sanford, and Joseph C. Guild as aldermen, who met on the 6th of January, 1869, and organized by electing W. A. Glenn mayor, and James T. Bell recorder. ANNEXATION TO NASHVILLE.         An act authorizing the citizens to vote on the question of annexation passed the Legislature Dec. 23, 1879. The vote was taken Feb. 6, 1880, resulting as follows: For annexation, 498; against, 482; majority in favor, 16. Edgefield, as an incorporated city, contained six wards; after the annexation it was divided into three wards, now known .is the l1th, 12th, and 13th wards of the city of Nashville.

 

Plate 30. "New Map of Tennessee No. 10", ATLAS OF THE UNION AND CONFEDERATE ARMIES, compiled by Calvin D. Cowles, 1891-1895. Map drawn by Nathaniel Michler, topographical engineer, Federal Army.

Larger image available

 

January 5, 1876

Colonel John Carter, Deputy Circuit Court Clerk, Davidson County, Tennessee, had returned from a hunting trip to Reelfoot Lake in west Tennessee where, "after bagging nine thousand seven hundred and fifty-three wild ducks, more or less." [This is nothing less than slaughter!]

Prices of cotton and fabric goods were reported from telegraphs of the various markets: Manchester, England; New York City; New Orleans, Louisiana; Galveston, Texas; Charleston, S.C.; Savannah, Georgia; Baltimore, Maryland; Cincinnati, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; St.Louis, Missouri and Memphis, Tennessee.

 

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The Davidson County, Tennessee Grange #652 and Nubbin Ridge Grange #152 (also in Davidson County) assembled January 5, 1876 to elect their representatives to attend the State Grange convention in Jackson, Tennessee, February 16, 1876. Colonel Hiram Vaughn, o£ the former grange, was elected chairman of the meeting. A. H. Sharp, of the Nubbin Ridge Grange, was elected the representative with Dr. J. H. Currey of the Mill Creek Valley Grange #182 as an alternate.

Ellen Douglas Wilson, daughter of Thomas B. and Lucy G. Wilson, died Sumner Co., Tenn., Jan. 3, 1876 aged 11 months, 26 days.

Captain J. L. Williamson, Nashville, married Bab A. Barker, daughter of Chiles Barker, Christian Co., Ky., January 4, 1876.

A. W. Stockell married Eloise Cooper, Columbia, Tennessee, January 4, 1876.

 

January 6, 1876

James B. Craighead's large residence, 34 North High Street, Nashville, was available for rent.

Thomas M. Miers, Dallas, Texas, married Carrie Anderson, Nashville, in the latter city, at Christ Church, December 30, 1875.

M. T. Bryan, administrator, with will annexed, of Mathew McLaughlin's estate announced that he had filed for insolvency of same and all persons with claims in the estate had six months to file those with him. Davidson Co., Tennessee.

 

January 7, 1876

Rosebank Nurseries "the oldest in the South", Nashville, Tenn., operated by Truett's Sons (L. A. and W. H. Truett) and Morgan (Irby Morgan), announced that as of December 1, 1875 A. W. Webber had been admitted as a partner in their business. [This nursery business was established by Ezekial Truett, 1812-1872, a native of Hickman Co., Tennessee.]

Samuel Ruple, a stock-drover from Boyle Co., Kentucky, who was seated in the caboose of the Louisville train was killed in late morning of January 6, 1876 when the train wrecked at South Drake's Creek about three miles south of Saundersville, Tennessee. [This was several miles northeast of Nashville.]

William Murray and Frederick Myers had been convicted of murdering Gottschard Wahl, by gunshot, November 11, 1874, when he was on his way home by wagon from Perryville, Pa. Murray, born in New Haven, Conn., in 1840, a carpenter, and Myers, 35 years old, a native of Germany, were hanged in Pottsburg, Pa., January 6, 1876.

Susie V. Morris, wife of Wilbourne Morris, daughter of Charles A. Fuller, dec., Edgefield, Tenn., died after a long illness, December 26, 1875. She had no living children, having two infants who predeceased her. An aunt, Mrs. Darden, "who had been to her as a mother since her earliest childhood" helped to attend her during her illness. Her funeral was held in the First Baptist Church in Nashville.

Watson J. Wade married Martha W. Duncan, both of Nashville, in the Christian Church, January 6, 1876.

 

January 8, 1876

W. A. Johnston, Clerk and Master, in Chancery Court at Centerville, Tenn., announced, about the suit, N. C. Spear v Mary Spear, that the latter was a non-resident of Tennessee and was given notice to appear in this cause, at the Centerville courthouse, on the first Monday in March 1876.

Mrs. Lud Haley, northeast Henry County, Tennessee, had five children to die in the past week from typhoid fever.

 

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The municipal board of Fayetteville, Tenn. met January 4, 1876 and elected John Y. Gill as mayor of the town. F. P. Fulton, recorder. George F. Smith, treasurer. C. C. McKinney, clerk.

One evening last week, "Aunt" Cal Page, wife of Grundy Page, blacks, who lived in Coon Hollow near Franklin, Tenn., put an old log in a fire in her fireplace; while she was knitting soon afterwards, there was a fierce explosion, heard for a distance of three miles. The log had exploded; she was uninjured but frightened by the experience. Her husband told her "that after the fight between Van Dorn and the Federals at Douglas' Church, during the late war [Civil War], the fight in which Captain Freeman was killed, he took up an exploded shell and hid it in that log to keep the children from fooling with it." This was the "cause" of the fireplace explosion.

Bob Dortch, well-known black barber, died in Edgefield, Tenn., January 7, 1876.

 

January 9, 1876

Miss Louisa Conghart, Blue Springs, Greene Co., Tenn. died one day last week while jumping the rope; thought to have died as a result of heart failure.

Julius Young, an Italian stone mason, was drowned from the steamboat "Wilder" in the Tennessee River about two weeks ago; his body was found in the river near Chattanooga.

On January 1, 1876, Selma, little son of T. P. Trentham, was killed by a falling tree on the family's homeplace on the Trenton Road about five miles from Dresden, Tennessee.

George B. Boyles was installed as Grand Master of Isaac M. Jones Lodge #166, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Bellevue, Davidson Co., Tenn., January 8, 1876.

 

January 10, 1876

Missing issue

 

January 11, 1876

"The salutory of William L. Morris, as editor and proprietor of the Lexington REPORTER appeared in last week's issue of that paper. [This comment suggests the date of establishment of this west Tennesee newspaper.]

The Jackson, Tennessee WHIG-BANNER, reported, "We are pleased to learn that our life-long friend, W. H. Stephens, is so well pleased with his new home on the Pacific coast. He lives within twenty miles of the breakers of [the] old ocean and seems to be delighted with his new home in the west."

["Personalities" (that of William H. Stephens), Emma Inman Williams Collection, Tennessee Room, Jackson-Madison County Library, Jackson, Tennessee; based on autobiography of W. H. Stephens and further information from Sarah Stone, a Stephens researcher.

WILLlAM HENRY STEPHENS         WILLIAM HENRY STEPHENS and his twin brother, Samuel Stephens, were sons of Daniel and Margaret Stephens, born at Havre de Grace, Harford County, Maryland , May 2, 1816, in a brick house near the shore belonging to Commodore Rodgers of the U.S. Navy. They were baptized by Bishop James Kemp. Both taught school in Hardeman County, Tennessee, Samuel at a county schoolhouse near Middleburg and William in Bolivar, to raise the means to attend the University of Nashville where Abednego, a brother, was then a professor. They entered together in the junior class, half advanced, May 1, 1835 and graduated in October 1836. They then taught school again, Samuel in Franklin, Tenn. and William, first, for one term at Nashville and then for two years at Jackson as principal of the male academy (opening the session there, February 1837). They both pursued the study of law while teaching. Samuel remained in Franklin until Dec.1841 when he went to live with William in Jackson, Tenn. There he taught school as principal of the male academy until July 28, 1843 when he died unmarried.

 

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William Henry Stephens was licensed to practice law, December 6, 1838, by Chancellor Milton Brown and circuit judge John Reed at Jackson. On Jan. 2, 1839 he married before his father, Rev. Dr. Stephens, to Martha, youngest daughter of ex-chancellor Pleasant M. Miller and his wife, Mary Louisa. They married at Holly Hill the country place of P. M. Miller about eight miles north of Jackson. This couple remained in Jackson (most of the time in their own house) until they moved to Willow Banks their country seat two miles northwest of Jackson, which removal was in Dec. 1847. [The house at Willow Banks stood on the present ground at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson and was demolished within the last generation.] There they resided until June 3, 1867 when William H. Stephens moved to Memphis, leaving his family at Willow Banks where they remained until November 1868 when they joined him in Memphis. There they remained until June 1, 1875 when they started to California spending a few days in Jackson on the way and reaching Los Angeles on June 12, 1875 at about one o'clock in the morning.         William Henry Stephens was appointed clerk of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, West Tennessee Division, Jackson, in May 1840 and held the office by successive reappointments until June 1857 when he resigned it to make a canvass for Congress as a nominee of the Whig Party against William P. Avery, at which time he was defeated. He practiced law during those years as well. From Easter 1837 until Easter 1867 he was a vestryman at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Jackson and during his whole residence in Memphis, except for a few months, he was a vestryman of St. Lazarus Episcopal Church. In 1839 he was appointed trustee of Jackson Male Academy and later trustee of West Tennessee College in which the academy was merged. He was a director for ten, plus, years of the Branch Union Bank in Jackson and during most of that time as its president.         In February 1861 Stephens was one of the twelve delegates elected by the legislature of Tennessee to the Peace Conference in Washington, where he felt the full force of northern delegates. During the session on the conference in February 1861 an election was held in Tennessee by virtue of a law passed for that purpose for delegates to a state convention in Nashville to take deliberation and decide upon the course of that state in the succession movement. By a unanimous vote Stephens was elected as delegate from Madison County during his absence in Washington, D.C., at the same election the people of the estate voted against the call of the convention, consequently it did not convene. Later that year the state joined the southern Confederacy.         In April 1861 Stephens assisted in raising an infantry company of Tennessee troops in behalf of the Confederacy and was elected its captain. The company was mustered-in May 15, 1861 and within a few days joined with other companies to form the Sixth Tennessee Infantry Regiment, Tennessee, of which he was unanimously elected colonel. On May 26, 1861 the regiment moved to Union city, Tenn. and from there on the first of August to New Madrid, Missouri; from there September 4, 1861 to Columbus, Ky. And from thence about the first of March 1862 they moved to Humboldt, Tenn. and after two weeks to Corinth, Miss.; fought in the battle of Shiloh in April 1862; his term of service ended May 15, 1862 and he returned to Jackson to hold the courts of the judicial circuit of which he had been elected judge in his absence, in August preceding. His brother, Daniel M. Stephens (a former secretary to President James K. Polk) and his own son, William, were also at Shiloh where the latter was seriously wounded.         Colonel Stephens remained at home only until June 5, 1861 when on the approach of the federal forces he went south where he remained until July 1, 1863 when he started for home, in Jackson, where he reached July 5. He resumed practice of law at the close of the war, moved to Memphis, Tenn. in 1867; elected delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1870, from Shelby County, and moved to Los Angeles in 1875 and to a farm in San Gabriel in 1877. He died in San Gabriel, March 8, 1887.

 

"The Memphis LEDGER had out a full and graphic report of the executions [of Frank Scott and William Williams] at Memphis and Bartlett, last Friday [January 7, 1876] two hours after the two men had been swung off. As the result of this commendable enterprise, two editions of the paper were exhausted. "[A full account of these executions was also narrated in the Memphis DAILY APPEAL, January 7, 1876.]

"Ham King has been re-elected mayor of Jackson [Tennessee] and strange to say, he ran against his stronest hold - Beveridge. "[The meaning of this statement is lost on the present-day reader. According to THE JACKSON SUN, January 7, 1876, in the election of January 1, 1876, Ham King defeated John Thomas Beveridge by 588 to 334 votes in the mayoralty race.]

 

January 12, 1876

H. H. Kerr, the youngest mayor of Murfreesboro, Tennessee delivered his first report to the Board of Aldermen on January 10, 1876. [In the U.S. Census of 1870 Kerr's age was given as 26 years.]

 

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INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT JOHN A. MURRELL Sparta Index         On our first page will be found an old document concerning John A. Murrell, who figured some years ago in this mountain country as a highwayman and horse thief. It is a fact not generally known, that Murrell reformed before his death, and lived for several years a member of the Methodist Church in good standing. He was a carpenter by trade and worked mostly in Bledsoe county, boarding usually at the house of John M. Billingsly, Esq., five miles above Pikeville, who now resides on Cane Creek, in Van Buren county. Murrell was a man of uncommonly good education and intelligence, and had one of the best libraries in the neighborhood. Several of his books are now in the library of President Carnes, of Barritt College. Murrell acknowledged his former crimes and with his intimates he talked freely but regretfully of them, but he denied to the last that he had ever committed murder. This declaration was repeated on his deathbed. Those who knew him best believed he was sincere. He died at Squire Billingsley's and was buried in the graveyard near old Smyrna Church. A few nights after, the grave was violated and the head taken away, by whom was never known. The body was re-interred and has since remained undisturbed. To distinguish it, the grave was dug at an angle of forty-five degrees to the usual east and west line. It is still pointed out to curious strangers who visit the spot.

 

 

[For persons interested in the life of the notorious outlaw, John A. Murrell, they may read the biographical sketch about him in GENEALOGICAL ASIDES FROM SEVERAL WEST TENNESSEE SUPREME COURT CASES: 1830s, by Jonathan K. T. Smith, Jackson, 1997, pages 60-79.]

Albert S. Williams, newly-elected mayor Edgefield, Tenn., gave his "inaugural' state of the city address before the Board of Aldermen, January 10, 1876.

W. B. Ewing, for many years a member of the Davidson county, Tennessee county court died on the morning of January 11, 1876 and was memorialized in a meeting held by the magistrates of Davidson County on the day of his death. [He was buried in lot 68, section 6, Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Nashville. The entry for W. B. Ewing and family, in the U.S. Census, 1860, July 4, Civil District 21, Davidson county, Tennessee, page 290, furnished their names, ages genders, birthplaces; his occupation and his personal and real property valuations:

[The family of William Black Ewing, December 31, 1803-January 11, 1876, is listed on page 254, ALEXANDER EWING AND DESCENDANTS, by James R. McMichael, 1999.]

 

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January 13, 1876

Mary E. Weakley, executrix of the will of Dr. B. F. Weakley, dec. announced that all persons with claims against this estate file them with her.

James Thomas, Jr. of the Demoville & Co. firm married Mammie E. Ross, daughter of Dr. J. C. Ross, in her parental home on South Summer St., Nashville, January 12, 1876.

George S. Bowling, Hopkinsville, Ky., married Katie S. Bug in the First Presbyterian Church, Nashville, January 12, 1876.

 

January 14, 1876

"Milton McLean, who was hung at Jackson on Friday last [January 7, 1876] for the murder of Thadeus Pope, negro, served as a private in the Confederate army from the first Manassas battle to the surrender at Appomatox with distinguished valor. "[This report errs at a point. McLean killed Pope, a white man, during an incident over the services of a black man named George Reed. The AMERICAN carried this account of the McLean execution, January 8, 1876, page 1:

THE BUSY HANGMAN Special to the AMERICAN. Jackson, Tenn., Dec. 7.         MILTON McLEAN was hanged here today in the presence of a large number of people. He killed Thaddeus Pope in this county on the 25th day of April, 1874. From the evidence it appeared that the killing was without cause. McLean had a negro, George Reed, in his employ, with whom he had some controversy a few days before the killing, the result of which was that he ordered Reed to leave his place. The negro went to Pope and secured employment.         The morning of the killing, Pope went with the negro to his cabin on McLean's farm to move his household goods over to Pope's farm. McLean was present armed with a double barrel shotgun. After some friendly conversation upon ordinary topics, McLean turned and addressed some remarks to the negro, George Red [Reed], after which he turned with an oath to Thaddeus Pope, who was standing with his back to him and fired one load of shot into his right shoulder, when Pope wheeled and received the other load in the right breast. The shot were mixed squirrel and buckshot and were wrapped up in new domestic as to make them in a lump. Pope fell near where he was shoe and died in a few hours.         McLean went home and remained there, neither making any effort to escape nor to resist arrest. He was arrested soon after the killing and at the September term of the Circuit Court (1874) was convicted of murder in the first degree. A motion was made before Judge Carthel, Special Judge, for a new trial which was granted and he was put upon trial again at the August special term (1875) and again found guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to suffer death by hanging, his case was appealed to the Supreme Court and that tribunal, speaking through Judge Turley, confirmed the sentence of death and ordered that McLean be hanged by the neck until dead on the seventh day of January 1876.         In his cell, when asked about his trial, he said, with emphasis, that he had not had a fair trial and that he was condemned upon suborned evidence. Questioned closely on this point, he could give no reason for this assertion and when pressed, relapsed into silence. He subsequently stated that there was no bad blood between him and Pope, that they had had no quarrel that he could remember and that there was no cause whatever for the killing. He thought that he must have been under the influences of some drug that robbed him of his reason.         In explanation of this, he stated that he had been for ten years a sufferer from torpid liver and dyspepals; that at times he was a dream. He said, "If I killed Thad Pope at all it was done under the influence of one of those mysterious impulses that come upon me in my dreamy hours, when medicine and disease is more powerful that reason."         When asked if he entertained any hopes of release, he promptly and fiercely replied, "I am not afraid to die." It was then suggested that perhaps his friends would endeavor to have his death sentence commuted to imprisonment for life. His reply was, "Death has no terrors for me; I have no friends and if I had any I would not ask them to intercede for me."         McLean was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, in 1338, came to Madison County in 1867, married a Miss Gee, in Hardeman County in 1868, had two children, both boys and was always eccentric in his conduct and very silent, never speaking unless spoken to, talking but little even in his own family. He was regarded by his acquaintances as a very dangerous and a very cruel man, one that would strike to kill on slight provocation and whose heart was a stranger alike to tear or remorse. Some years ago he boarded with Esq. White in this city and worked at brick laying. He paid his board promptly and yet, one morning, without any known reason or cause, he was missing. After two or three weeks search he was found roaming around in the swamps of the Hatchie River. He was taken to the poorhouse of Hardeman County and after a few weeks he disappeared from there very mysteriously and again appeared in Jackson. Here he went to work on the Perkins block and while engaged in this work, Theo. Kendrick served a subpoena upon him in some case then on trial. McLean recognised the service, but refused to quit his work until 12 o'clock. No amount of reason or threats could move him and Kendrick was compelled to sit down by him and wait until 12 o'clock, at which time McLean went with him without a word.         Even after shooting Pope he did not seem to realize the magnitude of the crime he had committed but carelessly told a neighbor, who asked him the news, "that he shot Thad Pope that morning. "This same strangeness of conduct was manifested throughout the trial. Although his life was act stake, he manifested all the time a most extraordinary indifference as to the result. He never gave his lawyers his confidence and seemed to dwell upon the idea that he could be hung but once.         Even before he was executed, he stated that he was brought up a Presbyterian but that he did not understand anything about religion, or its hopes and didn't wish to be quizzed on the subject. In his cell, his wife visited him but wept her bitter tears alone. His eyes were always tearless and his voice steady. The wife stood before his iron cell a pitiable monument of grief, weeping and praying, but saying little, because the man she loved and would soothe with her great affection was silent and tearless and sternly defiant. With a heart bursting with its burden of woe she turned from her doomed husband and poured the rich water of her great sorrow upon her hapless and thoughtlesscompelled to take very strong medicine and very often this medicine made him crazy; that he frequently did things under its influence that he could not remember afterwards. He further seated that for weeks before the killing of Pope he had suffered with this painfully chronic disease and taken medicine for it as usual which caused him to move about as if in

 

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children who could only weep in sympathy with her tears, knowing little of the despair and misery and shame or the wife and mother. Most faithfully and persistently did the men of God visit this doomed man and picture to him the boundless mercy of Heaven. Nearly every day some one of those good men, pastors of churches, entered his gloomy cell and spoke to him about: that sublime Savior who pardoned even the thief upon the cross. But the touching stories they told of Heaven's sacrifice for man, of the loving kindness of that God who condescended to suffer an ignoble death that all mankind might live, of that inexhaustible mercy and love that flows for all from the eternal fountains of Heaven seemed not to have worked in this strange man either repentance or hope. The utmost confession of petition or request that was gained from him was simply to permit in his behalf the prayers of the good men, who endeavored to melt his heart and direct his hopes to the life beyond the tomb.         The execution took place at 1 P.M. in sight of Jackson, just at the edge of what is known as the Forked Deer bottom, on the left-hand side of the railroad, opposite Liberty street, a scaffold being erected there for the occasion. His last view presented the city on the north and east and a dismal cypress swamp on the south and west. He acknowledged that he killed Pope but said he had no regrets about it and was sullen and defiant to the end. His neck was not broken and he died from strangulation.

 

Major Wilbur F. Foster was elected city engineer of Nashville by the city council, January 13, 1876 for a term of two years.

"Two deaths occurred this week from old age. One was that of Martha Fields, eighty years old, living in the Seventh Ward; and the other, Martha Tombs, aged sixty-five in the Sixth Ward. Both were colored." Nashville.

Jacob O. Wright, member of Central Baptist Church, Nashville, was given a surprise birthday dinner on January 13, 1875, his fifty-fifth birthday. It was given by his wife and was attended by the preacher and elders of this congregation.

Charley Tarver, 9 year old son of Peyton Tarver, near Mt. Juliet, Wilson Co., Tenn., had swallowed a cockle-burr last Monday; he died at the University Hospital in Nashville, Jan.13, 1876 from an operation for its removal.

Lizzie M. Skallny daughter of Patrick and Bridget Skallny, died [ostensibly January 13, 1876], aged 4 months, 19 days; funeral today.

 

January 15, 1876

Walter Tyler, an aged black man, was found dead in his bed at 122 North Front Street, Nashville, January 14, 1876. He was somewhat of a hermit, having been deserted by his wife who returned to their former home in Cleveland, Ohio. He had once been a cook at the Davidson County workhouse. Among his effects found in his shanty was a "well-thumbed Testament with several loose leaves carefully adjusted and which had evidently been very precious to the old man."

 

January 16, 1876

New Orleans, Louisiana deaths: Mrs. N. Tollier, aged 75 years was burned to death and James Murphy, aged 31 years, was shot and killed by James Merrimon after quarreling over their earnings; both occurred in mid-January.

General Tom Benton Smith earned an "enviable" record as an officer in the 20th Tennessee Infantry Regiment, Confederate army; sabre-wounded on his head about the time of the battle of Nashville. General Smith had become mentally ill, threatening violence to others and he was carried recently to Nashville, preparatory to his placement in the "insane asylum" there.

 

January 17, 1876

Mary J. Cocke, wife of Thomas H. Cocke, daughter of Dr. D. J. O'Reilly of Louisville, Ky., died in Memphis, Tenn., on Vance Street, December 1, 1875.

William H. Murrell died January 17, 1876 in Nashville; funeral tomorrow.

Albert M. Lea was seriously injured on his wedding trip, in the railroad accident on the V & M Railroad two weeks ago but he was recovering. His bride, Lena Reese, received superficial injuries.

 

January 18, 1876

Missing issue

 

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January 19, 1876

Page 2:

A Suit for $400,000,000 One Hundred Claimants, Mainly in Richmond and Lynchburg, Virginia. Richmond Whig         The celebrated Jennings case, which has been in the courts of England for fifteen years, it is said, will soon be decided. Jennings died in this State about a hundred years ago, and left property in England valued then at $15,000,000. Since that it has increased to $400,000,000. The heirs to this immense sum in England and the State of Virginia number about 100. The ground of the litigation now going on is the identity of the Virginia claimants, which is disputed by some of the English heirs. There are seven claimants in Richmond, and one of the principals is a young gentleman who is a clerk in one of the stores here. He is represented in this case by Messrs. T. T. Giles and Judge Haliburton, and J. V. Reddy, Esq., of this city, two lawyers in Georgetown, D.C., and Hon. Judah P. Benjamin in England. He yesterday received a letter from the last mentioned distinguished lawyer, in which that gentleman assures him that this tedious case is now rapidly drawing to a close, and states that there is every indication that the identity of the Virginia claimants will be admitted. In that event the heirs in this city would receive $35,000,000 or $3,000,000 apiece. The majority of the other Virginia heirs reside in Lynchburg. Mr. Reddy will probably go over to England soon in the interest of his client. The Jennings estate has been in the hands of the Cashier of the Bank of England, and he will continue to hold it until the courts decide the matter.

 

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A Doomed Family The Father Commits Suicide and the Mother Killed by Her Son – Two of the Sons Murdered and Two Daughters Die Insane – Another Son Sentenced to Death for a Cold Blooded Murder. Sedalia (Mo.) Bazoo:         The Turley family, of Cooper county, can safely be denominated a "doomed tribe." Dr. Jesse W. Turley was the father of a large family of children, and moved to Pettis county in 1855. His boys were very mischievous, and gave him much trouble. David, particularly, was always in some kind of broil. He got into a difficulty which promised to give him considerable trouble, and fled the State and went to California in 1857. During the war Dave's father killed himself, his older brother died, his younger brother accidentally killed his mother, and was himself murdered a short time afterward by the bushwhackers, and his eldest sister became insane and died.         The old man having left considerable property, and the family having been effectually thinned out, Dave returned to Missouri in 1866, received a handsome sum of money, commenced a life of dissipation and extravagance, and soon ran through it all. He then promised to quit whisky and do better, and one of his friends loaned him money to start a saloon at Georgetown. But Dave proved to be his own best customer, and made his "ranch" as he called it, a perfect hell. He took from Sedalia a lewd and notorious woman to Georgetown, where their conduct was such as to bring down upon their heads the anathemas of every respectable person in the place. Dave was generally feared, and was always ready with his knife and revolver. He shot at several persons for imaginary offenses, and used his knife on several occasions. He defied public sentiment and the laws of the country.         In one affray with an officer, Dave was badly punished, and when able to navigate he pulled up stakes and returned to California. John Turley, another one of the boys, was killed in a row, about a year ago, in Western Kansas. Jim Turley, the remaining brother of this band of desperadoes, at the time was in the Colorado penitentiary for shooting a man at Central City. As soon as released, he also skipped out to California.           Col. John F. Phillips, in whose regiment Jim Turley served during the war, has just received a letter from Jim, dated Sacramento, Cal., Dec. 29, 1875, from which the following extracts are taken:         "It is with sorrow I am compelled to ask your assistance in the case of my brother David. Last April he shot and killed a man in the county, and is at this time under sentence of death, having been denied a new trial by the Supreme Court. At one time, in 1869, when Dave was living with that woman (Robinson) in Georgetown, I thought from his actions, that he was insane, and I got a doctor to go and see him for the purpose of getting an order to send him to the asylum at Fulton. Get the affidavits of as many persons as possible to the fact that David was insane, and that at one time an order was made committing him to an insane asylum; and get a Judge of the court to certify to the good character of the person making such affidavits.

 

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"If you know where my sister Julia is, tell her, for God's sake, and for poor Dave's sake, to attend to this matter immediately, as there is no time to lose. Every one who knew Dave knew that he was not a sane man; also, that insanity runs in the family. Grandfather Turley was insane when he left Cooper county for California."         Inquiries were made and the facts ascertained that no papers had ever been filed setting forth Dave's insanity; that he was never examined by experts, or ordered to be sent to the asylum.         The evidence at the trial showed that Dave had shot this man for using abusive words while drunk, and that the fatal shot was fired while the drunken man was walking away from him. It was a cold blooded murder. If he should be released — of which there is not the least prospect — he would probably kill another man in less than a year. He is too dangerous a man to be turned loose upon any community.

 

James B. [Burnie] Beck was elected to the U.S. Senate from Kentucky by the joint Kentucky legislature, January 18, 1876, for a term of six years, beginning March 4, 1877. He was an experienced politician, having served in the U.S. House of Representatives for six years. [Beck, 1822-1890, served in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1867-1875; in the U.S. Senate, 1877-1890.]

 

January 20, 1876

Page 3.

ANDREW JOHNSON'S WIFE         The widow of ex-President Andrew Johnson has survived her husband but a few months. We have not a living ex-President at this time, but there are even yet three surviving widows of ex-Presidents — Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, Mrs. John Tyler, and Mrs. James K. Polk, whose husband was President thirty years ago. Mrs. Johnson, who died at Greeneville, Tenn., had been a patient sufferer for many long years, including those years when she was the occupant of the White House, and since the death of her husband, in August last, she had been gradually sinking till her life closed Saturday night. She was four years younger than her husband, and had, therefore, just reached the age of sixty-six years.         Her maiden name was Miss Eliza McCardle, and she was an attractive damsel, when, in her seventeenth year, she was wooed and won in her mountain home by the poor but ambitious young tailor of Greeneville, who was not yet twenty-one. She was a bright young woman, who had obtained such education as was afforded by the schools of the day in that part of the county; and there is no doubt that Andrew Johnson, who felt the superiority of her acquirements, was largely indebted to her for that mental stimulus which led him into those studies which he pursued with such assiduity from the period of their marriage. It is stated that the youthful couple used to study together far into the night, when all the rest of the villagers were asleep; that she was in the habit of reading aloud to him while he worked away at his trade of tailoring; that she aided him to learn to read fluently, and that she guided his hand while he struggled to acquire the art of writing. It is often said that she taught him the alphabet; but this is a mistake, for though he was never at school, he had pushed beyond that stage of learning before he left North Carolina for Tennessee. She was to him a most excellent and gentle housewife as well as a teacher of indefatigable zeal, while at the same time she displayed the best practical capacity in her ways of life in the ordering of their humble household. In still other ways she assisted him, and his early popularity in Greeneville was largely owing to the frankness and amiability of her intercourse with the people of the village. We have hear of her modest pride when Mr. Johnson, a few years after marriage, received that first public honor upon which he himself was always so fond of [illegible], in his election to the office of Alderman. Their home was gladdened by little children, and her husband's fame increased until he wore the laurels of the Mayoralty, to which office he was elected for three terms. During these years, as through all the subsequent years of her life, she herself was of the most retiring disposition, and always avoided anything that might bring her into any sort of publicity, saying to women of more ambition that her enjoyment was in her home, with her children, practicing the economy rendered necessary by her husband's slender means. When Mr. Johnson went to Nashville as a member of the Tennessee Legislature, she remained in Greeneville in charge of their household; and even when he became Governor of the State, she continued to maintain that degree of domestic privacy which was most congenial to her nature. In the spring of 1861, when Mr. Johnson was a Federal Senator, just before the outbreak of the war, she removed to Washington; but after a short residence there with her husband, she had to return to Tennessee on account of her health.

 

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She was there, and he was in Washington, when the war began; and as he could not enter Tennessee, which was then a member of the Confederacy, and she could not leave the state by reason of ill health, they were separated from each other for nearly two years. Here experiences during this period were of a trying kind. In 1862 the Confederate authorities required her to leave the Confederacy, but they did not enforce the order upon learning her condition. Some months afterward she was so disturbed over the reports about her husband that she asked permission to leave, which was granted; but it was only after many setbacks, many troubles, and much hard journeying that the feeble woman at last reached Nashville, where her husband was installed as military Governor of Tennessee. His emotions on meeting his suffering wife, after their long separation, amid the stormy scenes of war, overcame him, and were relieved by profuse tears. In a short time, her mother's heart was pierced by the death of her eldest son, who had just been appointed an army surgeon, and was instantly killed by being thrown from his horse.         When Mr. Johnson went on from Nashville to Washington, in 1865, to enter on the office of Vice-President, he made preparations for the removal of his wife and family to Greeneville; but before he had been able to accompany her there, the assassination of Mr. Lincoln induced him to change his plans, and take her to the new residence in the White House, to which he had been so unexpectedly called. There she remained with him during the four stormy years of his Presidency as a confirmed invalid. She never appeared in Washington society, was known to but a small circle of acquaintances, and was only on rare occasions met by a few of the friends who made visits to the White House. She was last seen, during her abode there, at a party given to her grandchildren, when she was unable to rise from her chair to greet the guests who were presented to her. Her daughter, Mrs. Patterson, was happily able to relieve her from the duties of the household and of society. "We are plain people," said she, "from the mountains of Tennessee, and I trust too much will not be expected of us here."         When President Johnson's Presidential term expired, his wife gladly returned with him to their home in Greeneville, and there she lived until his death last August, after which she took up her residence with the daughter at whose house she died.         When the ex-President, after fours years of retirement from political life, returned to Washington, in March of last year, as Senator from Tennessee, his wife was unable to accompany him, and had no hope of ever more leaving her secluded home.         If Mrs. Johnson had been as able to act as advisor and guide of her husband during the last part of her life as she was during the first part of it, he might have been saved from some of the errors into which he fell. But, from first to last, she was to him a wife whom he always loved, who possessed the most amiable traits of character, who exemplified all the domestic virtues, who assisted him in entering and aided him in pursuing the paths that led to eminence, who bore her sufferings in patience and resignation, and who lived a life that will make her remembered among American women.

 

Charley Hughes, who had lived near Shelby Depot: [Brunswick] in Shelby County, Tennessee, was killed by his assailant with an axe, January 14, 1876.

 

January 21, 1876

Albert Hixon of Greene Co., Tenn., became enamoured of the wife of N. G. Kellar; he and she eloped, riding a horse and mule, and accompanied by Kellar's infant child, went to Knoxville where they were apprehended.

On January 18, 1876 the Lookout Mountain Lodge #194, Independent Order of Benai Berith [B'nai B'rith], Chattanooga, Tenn., paid Mrs. Julia Bradt, widow of Moses Bradt, $1000. This was a customary award given to widows of members of this organization. Three of Mrs. Bradt's children were to be sent by this organization to school in Cleveland, Ohio.

The "Hillman Place," 20 acres on Gallatin Pike, in the Edgefield, Tenn. suburbs, would be sold at auction, Davidson County, Tenn. courthouse, January 22, 1876.

In the suit, Davidson County, Tenn. Chancery Court, Archelaus D. Turrentine and others v A. L. Watson, administrator, it was announced that the whereabouts of the heirs of Jane Watson, dec., were unknown. They were notified by the clerk, and master to appear in court to explain their interests, the first Monday in April 1876.

 

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January 22, 1876

"Mayor Ben Moore has returned to McKenzie and given himself up for trial for his recent shooting scrape. The Milan EXCHANGE learns that public opinion has changed very strongly in his favor." [THE JACKSON SUN, Jackson, Tenn., November 19, 1875, quoting the Milan EXCHANGE, "We understand a serious affray occurred at McKenzie last Friday in which Mayor Ben Moore shot one [probably James H.] Coleman, a saloon keeper. The wound is said to be serious." The circuit court records for Carroll County, which would have minuted this episode and its aftermath were destroyed when the courthouse in Huntingdon, Tenn. burned on January 29, 1931. Benjamin Portius Moore, 1848-1929, was for five decades a prominent merchant-banker-farmer of McKenzie. He was probably exonerated for this offense and Coleman survived his injuries.]

J. M. Rogers was elected Grand Master of Tullahoma, Tenn. Grange #487 on January 19, 1876 for a term of one year.

Ellen Fitzgerald, wife of Edward Fitzgerald, died in her home, on McGavrock Street, Nashville, January 20, 1876 in the sixtieth year of her age.

Funeral of James Wilson was to be held at Elm Street Church, Nashville, January 22, 1876.

 

January 23, 1876

Mrs. Julia Bate, widow of Captain Humphrey Bate, died near Castalian Springs, Sumner Co., Tenn., January 6, 1876;her husband and a brother, Captain Jo Tyree "sleep in the same grave on the field of Shiloh."

Colonel John M. Harrell married Kate Ferriss in her father, Josiah Ferriss' residence near Nashville, January 20, 1876.

A portrait of Judge Jo. C. Guild, a distinguished lawyer and jurist, was presented (and hung) in the Law Library of the Nashville Bar, January 22, 1876. [Josephus Conn Guild, 1802-1883, also published a book, OLD TIMES IN TENNESSEE, Nashville, 1878.]

 

January 24, 1876

Missing issue

 

January 25, 1876

Robert C. Collier died in residence of his sister, Mrs. M. V. Garrett, Nashville, Jan. 24, 1876.

Mary Jane Kelly, widow of Dr. John D. Kelly of Nashville, died in residence of James C. Lapsley, Selma, Alabama, January 20, 1876.

 

January 26, 1876

Archer McNeill drowned in Memphis, Tenn., January 24, 1876, in "attempting to rescue a gentleman from this city [Memphis] who was carried along into the river by a landslide and was afterwards rescued by another party."

 

January 27, 1876

The National Hotel, Florence, Alabama, "now kept by James Anderson" was located in the business district of the city and had a "no. 1 cook." $2 a day to stay in this hotel.

 

January 28, 1876

Samuel A. Preston, a long-time resident of Bean Station, Tenn., who moved years ago to Washington Co., Tenn., died while visiting a son in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 1876 aged about 72 years, of consumption.

A black man named Anthony Smith had been convicted of murdering a young white farmer named J. M. Baker, twelve miles from Rockdale, Texas; a few days ago a mob of horsemen took him from jail, carried him several miles from town where they burned him alive.

 

(Page 15)

Henry Green, about 25 years old, a man with a family, was deliberately shot and killed by Robert Austin at Lost Creek in White County, Tenn., January 23, 1876.

The warehouse of Taylor Voss, at Vale Mills, three miles from Pulaski, Tenn. burned Jan. 26, 1876. Loss, $2500.

 

January 29, 1876

James W. Jones, Hickman, Ky., was on his way to Epperson Springs with a companion, when travelling in a buggy he became desperately ill "with stone in the bladder" and died 9 miles north of Gallatin, Tenn. the latter part of January 1876.

 

Page 4:

A Souvenir of La Fayette's Visit The Nashville correspondent of the Memphis Avalanche writes to that paper as follows:         "Before me lies a relic of the past — An invitation to the ball given by the citizens of Nashville in honor of La Fayette, on the occasion of his visit here in 1825. This interesting document is printed on a full sheet of letter paper, within a border composed of two Corinthian columns supporting an arch. Upon the keystone of the arch appears the figures "76," and above a bust of Washington. One of the columns is surmounted by a bust of La Fayette, and the other by a bust of Jackson. Upon the column supporting the bust of La Fayette are the names of the fallen in battle fields of the Revolution: Fort Moultrie, Chadsford, Jamestown, Brandywine, Monmouth, Yorktown. At the base are the figures "1771-81." The column supporting the bust of Jackson is inscribed with "Taladega, Emuckfaw, Enotichopco, Pensacola, Orleans," while at the base appear the figures "1813-15"." The text of the invitation is as follows: WELCOME TO LA FAYETTE IN HONOR OF GEN. LA FAYETTE         You are respectfully invited to attend a Ball in Nashville, on the third evening after the arrival of General La Fayette, or on the second should the arrival be on Friday. MANAGERS
	K. H. FOSTER S. B. MARSHALL J. PARRISH J. SOMERVILLE B. McNAIRY J. STEWART	A. McCALL J. WATERS J. W. OVERTON J. PHILLIPS J. VAULX A. LATAPIE
NASHVILLE, April 7, 1825         Of the twelve managers of this ball, but one survives, Mr. Jos. Vaulx, of this city, an honored and worthy man."

 

Click here for image of invitation.

 

January 30, 1876

The thirteen year old son of Rev. C. H. Nachtrieb, Berea, Ohio, was drowned January 28, 1876.

A. J. Pemberton, a saloon keeper in McEwen, Tenn. shot and killed an old man, 68 years old, by the name of Jackson, on a street in that town, January 29, 1876. There was no known provocation for this crime. [A further account of this episode appeared in the February 2, 1876 issue, page 4:

The Tragedy at M'Ewen's Another Account Materially Different from the First.         We have received from a trust-worthy gentleman of Humphreys county the following version of the tragedy that occurred at McEwen's Station last Saturday:         Pemberton was in conversation on the street with another gentleman, when young Jackson came up and commenced denouncing Pemberton very severely, on account of a previous personal encounter between them, in which young Jackson claimed that Pemberton had treated him badly, and declaring that Pemberton had to take the same kind of treatment. Jackson had picked up a large stone and held it while be was saying this. Pemberton was conciliatory in his replies. The old man Jackson was nearby with a billet of wood in his hand, encouraging the son to punish Pemberton, who managed to get away, ran into a store, seized a navy pistol lying behind a counter, went out on the railroad in an excited manner, toward where he had left the Jacksons, and called out "Let them come with their brick-bats." The two Jacksons, then fifteen steps away, started toward Pemberton. Someone put a pistol in the hand of the older Jackson, and someone else called out to the Jacksons not to go, as Pemberton had a pistol and would shoot. The older Jackson replied that he would shot with him, and kept advancing on Pemberton with his pistol presented, and when within six or eight steps of Pemberton the fatal shop was fired by Pemberton. Pemberton fired two shots, one of which accidentally wounded Mrs. Hann.         Mr. Jackson was a good citizen, and his death, and whole occurrence, is much regretted by the whole community. Pemberton's bail has been fixed at $2,000. The coroner's jury declined to say whether the shooting was felonious, or excusable under the circumstances.

 

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The wife of Peter Nelson, a Swede, and resident near Rapids City, Illinois, cut his throat, killing him, January 28, 1876.

 

January 31, 1876

Missing issue

 

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