MY RIVERSIDE CEMETERY TOMBSTONE
INSCRIPTIONS SCRAPBOOK PART III
By Jonathan K. T. Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 1992

NOTES BY LOT

(Page 37)

LOT 442B, McCABE

ELIZABETH
w/of
ROBERT McCABE
B/ May 1, 1862
D/ Jan. 29, 1882

This couple seem not to have married in Madison County. There is record of an R. B. McCabe marrying Elizabeth Fielder, Lauderdale Co., TN., January 8, 1880.

 

LOT 190½, McNEIL, SAVAGE

REV. EDWARD/BENTON McNEIL
B/In Winchester, Tenn.
Aug. 13, 1837
D/In Jackson, Tenn.
Aug. 2, 1904

Picture reproduced above of Edward Benton McNeil, from CONFEDERATE VETERAN, vol. 11, 1903, page 443.

The Reverend Edward Benton McNeil was born near Winchester, Tenn., Aug. 13, 1837 and moved when a child, with his family to Pontotoc Co., Miss., in which state he lived for many years; served in the Confederate Army from that state; a Baptist clergyman; moved to Jackson, Tennessee, Dec. 1881 where he lived until he died. Owned a fine farm; continued to preach. Married; several children. A charter member of the John Ingram Bivouac, United Confederate Veterans, serving five years as its president, etc. He died in Jackson, Aug. 2, 1904. (JACKSON DAILY SUN, August 2, 1904)

To his consistent efforts, probably [more] than any other one individual, the monument to the Confederate dead, at Britton Lane in SW Madison County was erected and dedicated September 1, 1898. (See. CONFEDERATE VETERAN, volume 11, Oct. 1903, pages 442-443 for an article about this event.)

In a brief article penned by E. B. McNeil, which appeared in the JACKSON DISPATCH, January 25, 1889, he wrote that at this engagement,

"Gen. Armstrong commanded the Confederates and Col. Dennis the Federals, but Gen. W. H. Jackson, then of this city commanded the attacking force of Confederates, composed of the 7th Tennessee and 1st Mississippi cavalry and he led the latter regiment in their gallant charge. "The Confederates captured 277 prisoners, two pieces of artillery and all the wagons, etc. of the enemy. The prisoners were carried across Hatchie river at Estanaula and paroled at Harmony Church in Haywood County. The Confederates lost in killed 27, and about 50 wounded, 6 of whom died from their wounds afterwards. Of the killed 23 were buried in one pit and one each in two other graves, namely Bradford of near Toone and Peters of Whiteville. The other two, Lieut. Wilson of Pontotoc, Miss. and Allen were buried in the Denmark cemetery and their graves have been properly cared for. The majority of the killed were members of the 1st Mississippi cavalry regiment. . . ."

At least two of the Mississippi warriors, Sgt. Lee Briscoe and Lt. George W. Montgomery lie buried among their comrades on the south slope of Riverside Cemetery. See, page 27 in part one of my Riverside Cemetery scrapbook.

 

(Page 38)

MR. CHARLES RICHARDS of Jackson, beside the BRITTON LANE monument, near the battlefield. He is a foremost authority about this military engagement.

Robert H. Cartmell Diary (Tenn. State Library & Archives, Nashville), vol. 15, Sept. 1, 1897. Concluded yesterday evening I would attend the barbecue at Britton's Lane today, at Britton's Lane. On it is said, 1st day of Sept. 1862 a battle was fought between Confederates and Federals. . . . The object of this barbecue was to make money to erect a monument to the dead, killed there, 20 or 25 in no., all were buried in one grave. . . . Britton's Lane is on the old steam mill road, about 13 or 14 miles from Jackson, a very good road all things considered. I am glad I went, have heard of Britton Lane for 35 years. The road has changed a little, but the woods in which the Federals were concealed is there. The open field across which the Confederates charged, the big road now runs through it.

 

LOT 218A, BROSIUS

Ingram James noted in 1937, G. N. Brosius, "(stone) too deep in ground to read." Even this much available to read has since been discarded; all that is left is the stub and base of this stone. It seems that this is the grave of Geo. W. BROSIUS, who died May 4, 1882, in his 45th year, a railroad conductor for the Miss. Central RR; left wife and five children. (WHIG-TRIBUNE, Jackson, May 11, 1882)

 

LOT 202

In MY RIVERSIDE CEMETERY TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTIONS SCRAPBOOK, Part II (1992), page 15, I note that the actual months/days of b/dth for William Kirby Walsh have dissolved on his tombstone. From his great-grand-daughter, Hilda McClaren Lewis of Memphis, I can now supply that information from her private record. Properly reconstructed, inscription:

W. K. WALSH
B/Nov. 13, 1813
D/December 28, 1880

 

LOT 282, BOYD

The tombstone inscribed ONLY with the name ELIZABETH BOYD on this lot, is very probably the mother of Milton Boyd, died 1855. The Elizabeth Boyd, in the 1850 Census, Madison Co., page 225, aged 73, born in Virginia. (Aug. 22, 1850)

 

LOT 72N, CARTER

SALLIE E.
wife of/James CARTER
B/Feb. 9, 1852
D/Dec. 31, 1879

Madison Co. deed book 54, page 98, James Carter bought from Mayor/Aldermen of Jackson Lot. 58, l878 Addition of Riverside Cem., bounded on west by Rice lot, south by str., east by Masonic lot. Jan. 1, 1880. IBID., p. 99. James Carter retained so. of this lot and rest to Mrs. S. C. Rush, Jan. 2l, l896. He was then of Columbus, Ms. The Masonic lot had been sold to E. C. Nance.

 

LOT 209, B. J. MALONE

Benj. J. Malone, Sr. and wife, Caroline Malone are buried on this lot, from obituaries and family knowledge, but they have no tombstones. The Malones lived for years after the Civil War on the old Adam Huntsman homeplace on the Jackson-Cotton Grove Road. (See Mad. Co. Dd. Bk. 26, page 564 and ditto, Bk 23, p 552) Buried on the east side of the lot:

JAMES R. MALONE
(broken stone; Bible record has him as died Jan. 24, 1867.)

"Mother and Daughter"
MRS. R. __ MALONE
B/Aug. 22, 1837
D/Apr. 9, 1863 (or 1869)

LITTLE FANNIE
B/Apr. 2, 1860
D/July 22, 1863 (or 1869)

Benjamin Jones Malone, Sr. (May 15, 1816, nr. Petersburg, Va. -Aug. 6, 1877, Madison Co., Tenn.) married Caroline Williams (Mar. 12, 1822, nr. Clarksville, Tenn.-Nov. 7, 1905, Madison County), at LaGrange, Tenn., Dec. 6, 1837. Except for two youngest children, their children were born in Holly Springs, Ms. "Dr." Malone was a pharmacist; family moved to Jackson in 1859. Their children and BIRTH dates, from this couple's family Bible record (supplied JS by Mrs. Neva Lonsdale Burba and Ms. Madora L. Smith):

James Robert Malone, Sept. 23, 1839
Thos. William Malone, May 12, 1842
Wm. Green Malone, April 23, 1844
Emma Indiana Malone, Jan. 18, 1847
Benj. J. Malone, Jr., July 16, 1849
Mary Ella Armistead Malone, 6-13-52
Frank L. Malone, May 30, 1854
Carrie Lou Malone, July 10, 1858
Willis Bishop Malone, Dec. 8, 1860
George Malone, February 6, 1866

 

LOT 326½, HASKELL

District Telegraph & Sentinel, Jackson, 14 Dec. 1838

J. & W. T. HASKELL. ATTORNEY'S AT LAW, Jackson, Ten. Will practice in the Circuit Courts Holden for the counties of Madison, Henderson, Perry, Haywood, Lauderdale, Tipton, Fayette, Shelby, & Gibson — in the Chancery Courts at Huntingdon, Brownsville and Somerville, and in the Supreme & Federal Courts at Jackson. Collections in any part of the Western district promptly and faithfully, attended to.           Feb. 16, 1838.

W. T. Haskell had practiced law briefly in Huntingdon, Tenn. but became a partner of his father, Joshua Haskell, Sept. 1838. His father d. 1839.

 

 

(Page 39)

WEST TENNESSEE WHIG, Jackson, Tenn., May 13, 1885

WILLIAM T. HASKELL, THE TENNESSEE ORATOR
By Chancellor W. S. Fleming

Notwithstanding all that Mr. [Thomas] Carlyle has written against stump-oratory and stump-orators; and notwithstanding our very high regard for Mr. Carlyle as an original and bold thinker and writer, yet we are not prepared to admit the applicability of his remarks, in all their breadth and fullness, to the system of political debate in our country. Scattered over a wide area of territory — a considerable portion of our population unlettered — not a few unable to read or write, the people of the united states, especially those of the rural districts, found in the past, and still find, though in a less degree, the stump orator their chief political teacher. The stump-orator was and to some extent still is, in a political sense, emphatically, 'the schoolmaster abroad.' We are satisfied that from the year 1836 to 1860, the citizens of Tennessee, taken as a whole, were as well informed as those of any other state in the union and much better informed, upon the important questions and issues dividing and agitating the public mind, during that period than those of many of our sister states. And this is probably attributable to the fact that no other state has been more distinguished for her able political speakers, preeminent among whom was the subject of the present sketch.         William T. Haskell was born July 28th, 1818 in the town of Murfreesboro, Tennessee and was the younger of two sons of John and Nancy Haskell. His father was a native of Rhode Island, a lawyer by profession, he immigrated to Tennessee about the year 1811 or 1812 [and] took an active part in the creek war as a subordinate officer; and after the close of the war settled in Murfreesboro, pursuing his profession until 1821 or 1822, when he was made judge of the circuit court for west Tennessee. Upon his appointment he removed with his family to Jackson, west Tennessee, where he continued to reside until his death about the year 1839.         His mother was born in Sumner County, Tenn. and died about the year 1836. She was a sister of the Hon. Charles Ready, at one time member of congress from the Murfreesboro district and for many years a distinguished member of the Tennessee bar.         Having gone through a preparatory course of study at Jackson, the subject of this biographical outline entered the Nashville University, at that time under the presidency of dr. Philip Lindsley, one of the profoundest scholars and most successful educators in the west. The university was at that time in a most prosperous and flourishing condition. Sending forth annually young men destined to fill, as many of them did, the foremost ranks of the learned professions. Did space permit we might enumerate many names familiar not only in Tennessee but beyond her limits who have reflected honor upon their alma mater as well as upon their country, at the bar, upon the bench, in the pulpit and in our legislative halls, state and congressional. Possessed of extraordinary quickness of intellect, it required no great effort or labor in him [W. T. H.] to master the usual studies of the curriculum.         He was warm hearted, open, frank, generous and manly in his bearing. His mental and social qualities were of the very highest order. He possessed also an unfailing fund of humor which made him the life and soul of his college companions. . . . During his collegiate career he distinguished himself by delivering, at the commencement, an original oration entitled 'poetry and the poets' which is said to have been strikingly beautiful, elegant and refined in thought as well as diction. This address, delivered while he was yet a junior, won for him unbounded applause. Indeed it is said, by some of those who heard it, to have been a wonderful production for one of his years and to have exhibited a profound and accurate knowledge of English literature.         Before the completion of his college course a call was made for volunteers from Tennessee to quell the Seminole in Florida. Ardent impulsive and chivalrous in temperament, he threw down his books, left his studies and having joined a volunteer company, went to the seat of war and served out his time in that campaign. This was in 1836. At the close of the campaign he returned to Tennessee and received from the faculty of the university his diploma and at once entered the office of his father, Judge Haskell, as a law student. He was soon after admitted to the bar and when he was scarcely twenty-one years of age, he was united in marriage to Miss Parlee Porter of west Tennessee, who after his death was for several years our highly esteemed, intelligent and honored state librarian at Nashville. He left surviving him five children, three sons and two daughters.         Upon the nomination of General [William Henry] Harrison for the presidency in 1840, he entered the political arena for the first time as one of the youthful champions in Tennessee of the hero of Tippecanoe. And we may remark here, that from that day forward to the close of his political career, he gallantly bore the old whig banner, amid the dust and smoke of many a hard fought field; and while in his hands, it always danced and floated proudly in the van of the fight. . . . His party was often defeated, though he always triumphantly vindicated its principles and its policy. With him oratory was a passion and political discussion the element in which he most delighted. In the outset of his career he encountered young [Thomas] Ewell, a brother of General Ewell, in west Tennessee, who afterwards gallantly fell upon one of the bloody fields of Mexico. Ewell was a young lawyer of extraordinary brillancy of intellect and full as ardent, sanguine and dashing as young Haskell. They espoused opposite sides in the campaign of 1840 and two more gallant courtly and chivalrous knights never graced a political tournament in Tennessee than these, both in the full flush of early manhood. . . .         The following year Haskell was returned from his county, Madison, as a representative in the Tennessee legislature. In the memorable campaign of 1844, the most hotly contested in the history of Tennessee, Haskell was placed upon the electoral ticket in behalf of the sage of Ashland [Henry Clay]. He was in his glory for he entertained the most enthusiastic admiration for Mr. Clay. He canvassed the entire state and earnestly and eloquently discussed and defended the great measures of the Whig party. The issues were vast. . . . And well and ably did he discuss them. . . . He soon took his position in the front rank of Tennessee orators . . .  his efforts were simply grand whether regarded in their logical presentation, their vehement declamation, their inimitable wit, their bitter irony, withering sarcasm or bold and astonishing flights of oratory. He combined all these in a consummate degree. He swayed the multitude as with the wand of a magician. His power over vast crowds, to move them at will, was immense, now melting to tears, now convulsing with laughter, now filling them with wild, unbounded enthusiasm, manifested in burst after burst of applause. At times he seemed almost inspired, drawing to him the enthused, entranced mass and infusing into them the same passion and fire that kindled and shook his own soul . . .         In the war with Mexico, he was colonel** of a volunteer regiment of infantry and served his country in that capacity with gallantry and distinction; and upon his return in the following year he was elected to congress, where he served one term. He did not present his name as a candidate for reelection. His name and fame as an orator were by no means confined within the limits of his native state for in the presidential campaign of 1848, he bore the banner of general [Zachary] Taylor through the canvass in several other states of the union. Again in 1852 he took the field for general Winfield Scott and the ringing tones of his clarion voice were heard throughout the borders of the state. As well as the writer remembers, he made his last appearance as a popular political debater in the interest of Mr. [Millard] Fillmore as the Whig candidate for the presidency in 1856. So that for about sixteen years he was prominently before the people of his native state as one of her leading and most distinguished orators.         It is proper here to state that his professional career was not marked with success. Indeed he seems to have had no heart for the dull, dry and prosy details of the law. He imbibed at an early age a taste for politics and the excitement of the hustings, so congenial with his ardent, impulsive nature, together with the wide field it disclosed for the display of his early passion, oratory, seemed to have destroyed all taste for the tamer and more quiet pursuit of his legal studies. Hence when he turned from the political arena to the forum, he was disappointed. The field seemed too narrow and contracted — the theatre too small for the play of his genius and the exercise of his gifts. The consequence was, as it always must be in such cases, a failure. The law is a hard taskmaster. . . . The fame of general Haskell does not rest upon his legal attainments, though there is little question that his career as a jurist would have been marked with equal ability and distinction, had he devoted himself with the same zeal and assiduity to its study and practice. It rarely happens, however, to mortals to be great in more than one pursuit. . . .         As has been already stated, he was for many years known all over the state as the champion of Whiggery, 'foremost in the fray' and ready at all times to cross lances with the boldest knight that dared to enter the lists. Under these circumstances it was natural that he should be toasted, feasted and feted whenever and wherever he went to address the masses of his fellow-citizens. Genius has its infirmities and foibles — and one not uncommon to gifted natures, is the tendency to indulge to excess in intoxicating stimulants. Gen. Haskell yielded to the temptation until the habit, always pernicious and often ruinous, was formed and at the instance and solicitation of his warmest friends, he resolved to reform and did for a while reform and free himself from the power of the tempter; it again returned and riveted upon him those fetters from which he had no longer power to free himself. Then came darkness and gloom. A shadow fell across the pathway of his life. The morning of his existence had been bright and unclouded and the noontide of his manhood had been one of almost unparalleled splendor but not thick clouds were gathering on the horizon to overspread and darken his sky with the blackness of rayless gloom. . . . Despondency, like a demon, stalked through the gloomy chambers of his soul, once the haunt and home of noblest thoughts…death soon came to his relief. On the 31st day of march, 1859, the mortal remains of general William T. Haskell, under the special charge of the independent order of odd fellows, were borne from the Methodist Episcopal church at Jackson, Tennessee and thence deposited in their last resting place. . . .         Gen. Haskell received, at the hand of nature, a fine figure, an engaging face, an eye expressive of every emotion and passion of his soul and a voice of varied compass. His gestures were not the studied gestures of the rhetorician; nor were the graces of his manner borrowed. He always was himself, and always natural. . . . Another element of his success as an orator may be found in his thorough knowledge of human nature. A profound insight into human character he possessed in an eminent degree. . . . He seemed to comprehend without effort how to reach the understanding and judgment of his hearers. . . .

**Elected Colonel of the Second Regiment, August 8, 1846

 

NOTE, MADISON CO., TENN. COUNTY COURT MINUTE BOOK 4, PAGE 512: William T. Haskell granted license to practice law, February 5, 1838.

GENERAL HASKELL's tombstone was erected in 1885 over his grave. "A movement is on foot in this city looking to the erection of a monument over the resting place of that Prince of Tennessee orators, General W. T. Haskell. At present there is not even a headstone to mark the grave of that gifted Tennessean. . . " (WEST TENN. WHIG, Jackson, May 13, 1885).

It may very well be, almost certain, that Judge Joshua and Nancy Haskell are buried in this lot, as well as several other members of their immediate family.

 

(Page 40)

CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE, Nashville, Tenn., April 28, 1859, "William T. Haskell"

Mr. Editor, you have recorded the death of a wonderful man. I knew him, General Haskell. He was endowed, furnished, amazingly eloquent, frail and unfortunate. His was a life of earnest purposes never realized, splendid promises never fulfilled. If he was a fragment of a man, he was large, brilliant, blazing. But his 'continuity' was not large. He passed rapidly 'from thing to thing.'         . . . In 1844 he was on the electoral ticket in the Clay canvass. At the breaking out of the Mexican war he volunteered as a soldier but was elected to command a regiment, hence his military title. It was immediately after his return from the war when I first met him. A young friend, Mr. Lewis and myself were spending some time in Nashville. One day we called on Allen A. Hall. Esq., then editing a Nashville paper. Said he, 'Have you seen General Haskell yet!' 'No.' 'You ought to call on him; his talk is astonishingly brilliant and eloquent.'         After rhia I met him at the Sewanee House. He was surrounded by admirers . . . was tall, pale and perfectly dressed. Haskell was continuously tempted to talk because there were so many to listen. But he talked well on every subject. . . . Soon after this, though barely thirty, General Haskell was elected to Congress. As Marshall and Prentiss and others, before him, so did Haskell; nay worse than those; for he came home with his constitution wrecked and reeling under the influence of Washington City life and having lost thousands of money. One long, dark night, in a solitary stagecoach, he gave me full details. In 1852 he was placed 'for the state at large' on the electoral ticket in the Scott canvass. The newspapers said such crowds never came out and such speeches were never uttered before on Tennessee soil. During this canvass I was coming through Knoxville to Nashville, by stage. On top of Cumberland Mountain General Haskell got in. He was worn, slovenly, soiled. He entered the stage swearing. The moment he saw me, though the stage was full, he extended his hand and said, 'Mr. Young, I beg your pardon, sir. It is mean in anyone to swear, especially so in me. I was once a member of your church, sir and enjoyed religion - was a class leader! My wife is a Christian woman and I am the father of children. You and I became acquainted at the Sewanee House on my return from Mexico. You shall not hear me swear any more in the coach, sir.' And he kept his promise. . . . After midnight it rained heavily; the road became slippery. After a while the driver stopped and told us that unless two men would hold the lead horses, he could go no farther down the mountain. On one side was a deep precipice. Haskell stepped over to that side, saying, 'Mr. Young, you may take the upper side. One of us may get killed and I think it likely your life will be more beneficial to the world than mine.' We got to Sparta about daylight. Haskell walked to the desk and glancing his eye down a page or two of names, remarked, 'There's nobody been here! Let's register our names and let them know somebody has been here.' So he wrote in large, bold hand, 'Wm. T. Haskell' and then entered my inarticulate name. I have never seen Haskell since. I understood he volunteered some service for Fillmore in 1856. Long and dark was the night he spent in the asylum at Lexington. Longer, darker and fataler (sic) still, his last days in the asylum at Hopkinsville. Between these madhouses he enjoyed a few lucid weeks. During this time he produced an eloquent poem, in two parts. Part I, is a description of Haskell sane. Part II, is a picture of Haskell restored. ---R. A. YOUNG April 15, 1859

 

In the file for Paralee Porter Haskell, in the Tennessee State Library and Archives, in Nashville, Tennessee, are the following data:

Judge Joshua Haskell, born Cumberland, Rhode Island, April 9, 1776 and died November 13, 1839 in Jackson, Tennessee. His wife, Nancy Ready, born at Readyville, Tennessee; married Haskell, November 17, 1814 and died in Jackson, October 9, 1836, at the age of 37 years & 7 mos. and 22 days. The names of their Children:

Charles Ready Haskell, born Aug. 19, 1815
Samuel Haskell, born June 6, 1817
William Turner Haskell, born July 18, 1818
Mary Ann Haskell, born March 1821
Caroline Haskell, born September 12, 1826
Martha Lucinda Haskell, born Oct. 27, 1828
Mariah Jane Haskell, born July 1, 1833
Ellen Nancy Haskell, born April 17, 1835

William Turner Haskell, the famed orator of Tennessee, was born July 18, 1818 and died March 12, 1859, Hopkinsville, Ky. Buried in Riverside Cemetery, April 1, 1859. He was married to Sarah Jane Paralee Porter (Feb. 3, 1820-March 27, 1893), February 7, 1838. She was a daughter of Thomas Porter and Jane Brown Porter. After her Husband's death, Paralee Haskell taught school in Memphis, Tn and served as the first woman State Librarian 1871-1879. She died in Helena, Arkansas, and is buried there in Evergreen Cemetery. The Haskell offspring:

Sheppard Porter Haskell, born Dec. 16, 1839
William Charles Haskell, born Oct. 30, 1840
Joshua Haskell, born August 22, 1842
Viola Haskell, born September 23, 1844, married Henry Rightor and had three children
Paralee Porter Haskell, born July 8, 1848
Mary Emma Cheatham Haskell, born Mar. 11, 1852

From Mrs. Sarah J. P. Haskell's Mexican War application (1887), no. 186 . . . She wrote that from her husband's death until 1871 she lived in Memphis, Tenn. and from 1871 until Feb. 1879 she lived in Nashville, Tn. Thereafter, Helena, Ark. In proving her marriage to Haskell, "In relation to the family Bible of Joshua Haskell decd. she states that she & her said husband received the same after the death of the said Joshua Haskell; that she had often seen the same in the possession of the said Joshua; that the record of the marriage of herself and said husband was made by her said husband shortly after their marriage." Wm. T. Haskell and Sarah J. P. Porter on the 7th of February 1838 at Paris, Tenn. The clerk noted, "the said Bible . . . was printed as shown in the first page 1814." Ostensibly this is the Bible from which comes the Haskell data, mentioned above, now in the Tenn. State Library and Archives, Nashville.

 

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