GENEALOGICAL TIDBITS FROM THE MEMPHIS DAILY APPEAL
DURING THE CENTENNIAL YEAR OF 1876
By Jonathan Kennon Thompson Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 2002
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MEMPHIS DAILY APPEAL
JANUARY-MARCH 1876
January 2, 1876
JAMES SIMMS and Mrs. ELLEN SHAYS married at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Memphis, December 16, 1875.
THOMAS J. WADE, aged 21 years, died in Memphis, January l, 1876; services to be held in residence of Mrs. E. S. WADE on Lane Avenue, today.
EDNA H. WALKER died in Somerville, Tenn., Dec. 23, 1875 in her 65th year of age.
Dr. JOHN THOMPSON died in Oxford, Miss., Dec. 22, 1875; pneumonia.
MATTIE FELTS wife of E. KECK died January 1, 1876 [of malarial fever; buried in lot 5, South Grove section, Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis].
DAVID GARVIN, merchant, Fremont, Ohio accidentally shot himself to death on January 1, 1876.
Notice given that sealed bids for construction of a new courthouse in Carrollton, Carroll Co., Miss. were to be received upto January 3, 1876.
JAMES FLAHERTY and J. J. SULLIVAN were funeral undertakers, located at 317 and 318 Second Street in Memphis.
For Sale: The CLAY Plantation, 60 acres, South Bend, Arkansas River; never known to over- flow. Apply to Rayner Whitfield, South Bend, Arkansas.
CHARLES CLARKE offered six plantations for sale, including his homeplace, "Dora, "near Preston, Miss., a 1000 acre tract, 809 in cultivation with residence, steam-gin, ample buildings.
CHARlES W. SLIM, one balletmaster at the St. Charles Theatre, New Orleans and player at the Memphis Theatre, died in the Memphis city hospital on December 30, 1875.
MARGARET DAVIS daughter of Hon. Jefferson Davis, was married at St. Lazarus Episcopal Church in Memphis to J. A. Hayes, Jr. [Margaret Howell Davis, 1855-1908, married Joel Addison Hayes, Jr., January 1, 1876. Their descendants are given in the section of BURKE'S PRESIDENTIAL FAMILIES OF THE UNITED STATES, New York, 1975, in which the progeny of Jefferson Davis are elaborated upon, pages 589-598.]
G. A. ECKERLY of the G. A. Eckerly and Co. firm in Memphis was presented a gold-headed cane by his employees, January 1, 1876 for his "uniform kindness and recognizing your worth."
January 4, 1876
JULIUS TAYLOR was elected Shelby County, Tennessee county attorney, January 3, 1876.
ROLAND JOHNSON, an old and respected citizen, in a disagreement with his cousin, WILLIAM JOHNSON, was shot and killed by the latter January 3, 1876 at Morning Sun in Shelby Co., Tenn., January 3, 1876.
ALF H. MURRELL married SARAH BEAMISH, Memphis, January 2, 1876.
JAMES HOOGA and MARY LAMPRECHT were married in Memphis, January 1, 1876.
JAMES E. MOODY joined the Wright and Company in Bartlett, Tenn., January 4, 1876, for a new mercantile firm, WRIGHT & MOODY.
The library and office furniture of JOHN SOMERVELL would be auctioned for cash at A. M. STODDARD'S store on Second Street in Memphis, January 6, 1876.
GEORGE FOWLER and BETTIE RICHARDS of Princeton, Caldwell Co., Ky., were married on the steamer "Belle of Memphis," the port of Memphis, January 3, 1876; they would reside in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Two black men, FRANK SCOTT and WILLIAM WILLIAMS, would be hanged, the former in the Memphis jail yard and the latter at Bartlett next Friday [Jan. 7, 1876] by order of the, state Supreme Court.
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January 5, 1876
WILLIAM CARLISLE who was being treated for lung disease shot and killed himself in the Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, January 3, 1876.
JESSE RUSSELL son of W. C. and E. W. Russell died in Adams Street residence, Memphis, January 3, 1876 aged 21 years.
DAVID MIDDLETON HAWKINS married Mrs. BELLA CORWINE LAWTON of Memphis, January 4, 1876 in residence of S. C. Toof, Memphis.
THOMAS CLAPHAM married ELLA EMMS in Memphis, January 4, 1876 in the First Baptist Church.
G. H. HOLST and T. W. HOLST were funeral undertakers, located opposite the Peabody Hotel at 320 Main Street in Memphis.
The names on the register of the MEMPHIS COTTON EXCHANGE early this week: J. WILLIAMS, Collierville, Tenn.; J. A. OTTO, New York; D. M. HAWKINS, Cincinnati, Ohio; WILLIAM PRINCE, Conway, Ark.; J. M. ROGERS, WALNUT BEND; F. P. YOUNG, Cornick; LEWIS BOND, Brownsville, Tenn.; Dr. W. O. PERSON, Airmount, Miss.; Colonel Ch. TODD, St. Louis, MO.; WILLIAM R. GARRISON, New York; GEORGE G. PARHAM, LaGrange, Tenn.
[Better to regulate the cotton trade in the mid-South, many of the leading cotton factors, buyers, organized and chartered themselves at "the Memphis Cotton Exchange" on April 20, 1874. The first section of the Exchange's constitution, "The purposes of this Association shall be to provide and maintain suitable rooms for a Cotton Exchange in the city of Memphis; to adjust controversies between members; to establish just and equitable principles, uniform rules and regulations and standards for classifications, which shall govern all transactions connected with the cotton trade; preserve and disseminate information therewith . . . and increase the facilities and the amount of the cotton business in the city of Memphis. "These principles have helped the cotton industry to be regulated in a manner benefiting the growers and buyers for generations. In the period covered by the present survey, almost daily lists of visitors to the Exchange were listed in the newspaper. A genealogist may find a relative or relatives among these visitors; it is worth patient "reeling" of the microfilmed issues of the newspapers for this purpose.]
January 6, 1876
The new Baptist Church in Corinth, Miss., "a nice frame building," was dedicated Sunday, January 2, 1876.
Dr. JAMES H. SOMERVILL died near Fulton, Tenn., Dec. 27, 1875 in his 24th year of age.
Colonel HIRAM TILMAN died Abbeville, South Carolina, January 1, 1876 "after a lingering illness." [Colonel Tilman moved from his native South Carolina to Tippah Co., Miss. where he farmed until he moved to Memphis in 1852; whereupon he practiced law; he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel in the 21st Tenn. Infantry Regiment, CSA, July 9, 1861. He later acquired the ten acre homeplace of Major G. M. Bartlett in Bartlett, Tenn., in 1874, his executor making final payments on this property which he later sold for the Tilman heirs to W. N. Miller in 1879. Major Bartlett continued to live on the homestead until his demise in June 1876 and his widow continued to live there for over a year later. Colonel Tilman is buried in the Old Rocky River Presbyterian Churchyard in Calhoun Falls, South Carolina, with a tombstone bearing his dates: July 22, 1822-Jan. 1, 1876. Close by are buried his parents, Hiram and Kitty Tilman.]
EMIL VERDEL married GEORGIA WILLIAMS, Memphis, January 4, 1876. DAVID C. WHITE, Como, Miss., married MARY A., daughter of Henderson TAYLOR, dec., Memphis, January 5, 1876.
R. F. C. MOSS married M. VIRGINIA ROWLETT, Collierville, Tenn., January 4, 1876.
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Attorneys-at-law practicing and advertising their services in Memphis: G. P. FOUTE, C. R. BARTEAU (resident of Bartlett, Tenn.), GEORGE GANTT, JOSIAH PATTERSON, THOMAS C. LOWE, T. B. MICOU, CASEY YOUNG, IRVING HOLSEY, GEORGE R. PHELAN and T. M. S. RHETT.
January 7, 1876
"The Gallows": on page three:
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During yesterday hundreds of persons, nearly all colored, crowded in front of the jail, anxiously and wonderingly looking upon the gallows just erected by Captain Jackson in the yard. The instrument of legal death seems to have a great fascination for the negroes. And also for many White persons. Frank Scott will be hung there today and William Williams at Bartlett, where another gallows has been erected. Williams will be taken to Bartlett on a special train at ten o'clock this morning and there executed by deputy sheriff [Tom] Taylor. William Williams, the colored man, was convicted of the murder of Joe Fields, colored, near Shelby Depot. The facts of this murder have already been related and Williams, in an interview with an Appeal reporter yesterday, reiterated his innocence but said he did not care to talk more upon the subject. While the reporter was in the cell an Episcopal minister called and asked Williams if he wanted to talk to him. He said he did not as he had already professed religion and was not afraid to die as god would sustain him. He said, "I do not think you can do me any good. I trust I am right. I belong to one church [Baptist] and you will go against that church and it won't do me any good. I am not troubled about dying and do not wish to talk with you on the subject of Church." Thereupon the reporter asked Williams if he were annoyed by the ministers. Prisoner. Well, sir, they bother me a great deal, each one insisting that I must join his church as his is the only right way to heaven; but I do not listen to that. You can look in the bible there and see what religion is but you feel it in your heart when you get it. Reporter. You are on the brink of the grave and if you feel that god has forgiven you, you should trust in him and leave the discussion of church matters for the free and the living. Prisoner. That's just what I am doing. I don't want to see the clergy any more. My sins are forgiven and I know god will take care of me. I am a Baptist and will die in that faith. Reporter. Have you anything to say now? If so, I will write it down and publish it. In response Williams said, the first thing I wanted to publish is how Mr. Goodlett did about my land. Reporter. What Mr. Goodlett do you mean? Prisoner. Jimmy Goodlett and his brother, Billy Goodlett. I borrowed two hundred and fifteen dollars in money from the firm of Goodlett & Bro. And paid it to Mr. Jack Bond to make my first payment on the land and gave them a deed of trust on the place for this sum and also for fifty dollars worth of groceries and provisions; also I gave him a mortgage that year on my stock and some cotton in the field, to hold and keep me from paying a security debt until I could pay Goodlett. I stood security for a man out there and they were about to make me pay it, William Smith by name. I gave Goodlett & Bro. a mortgage on my wagon and cotton in the field. He took that mortgage and I now find he has put thereon four hundred dollars worth of rations; I never got but fifty dollars worth of rations; had only five in the family, a wife and three children. He read the mortgage to me on the plows, two mules, wagon and cotton in the field. He put it down unbeknowing to me four hundred dollars worth of rations (supplies); I never got rations but twice from him. It is every bit lies he put on there. I can prove it by Jack Bonds. It has been nearly two years ago and I never knew it until a few days ago. He was down here Christmas day. I told him he wanted a settlement. He said he would be back New Year's day to settle with me and if I would get a man to pay all that was due on the mortgage, he would deed the place to him. I got Mr. Tom Williams to go to see him and pay him all the money on the first of February. He said he was selling the place and refused to take the money; that I had sold him the place twelve months ago. If I had sold him the place, anybody knows he would not have come here to settle the rent; the prisoners here heard him and said they will swear to it. When here he said he thought it was the understanding that the place was to be sold, I told him no, that I would pay him all I owed him which in all would not amount to over three hundred dollars, he having collected two hundred dollars rent off the place and resolved therefrom two bales of cotton which brought eight-eight dollars. He kept this money. He paid taxes on the place once, I know; perhaps twice, eighteen dollars being one payment. My stock sold for two hundred and forty-five dollars of which I received one hundred and eleven dollars. He kept the balance and I told him to pay to Mr. English what I owed him — thirty-six dollars. Mr. English got a load of corn in the field toward payment and Mr. Goodlett kept the balance. Reporter. How many acres are there in the tract of land? Prisoner. One hundred and fifteen, with a good spring and branch, seventy five acres of open land and divided up so as to suit four families. He said I sold him the place for seven hundred dollars. This is untrue. I paid, first and last, twenty three hundred dollars for the place, besides the improvements, embracing a fine orchard. Since being in prison I paid Mr. Barnes five hundred and |
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forty nine dollars for the place, and, also, one hundred and thirteen dollars for picking and gathering the crop, according to the account of Mr. Barnes. This was last fall and near Christmas. Reporter. You will endeavor to save your property for your children? Prisoner. Yes sir. He wanted to find out from Tom Williams if I thought I would be hung. Tom told him he did not know what I thought. Mr. Goodlett said that unless he took the place the state would take it in order to satisfy the costs in the case of my trial. He said that Judge John D. Adams told him this. I asked Judge Adams about this and he denied it, saying that the state only wanted my neck. Goodlett came down with a piece of paper and wanted me to make him Guardian for my children for five years, until my oldest son would be of age. Captain Jackson and a short, chunky man was with him. Captain Jackson says he understood it as I did. That it was to make Goodlett guardian of my children for five years and then my son, who would be of age, would be guardian. I didn't know anything about law and I didn't think he was so big a rascal. I got Mr. Mulverhill to go to see him but Goodlett got mad as fits and wouldn't let him see the books. I advise all colored people not to take any note from him unless they can read, not to trust him any more. Any man who will cheat me, as I am, will cheat the dead. It is worse than robbery to take this advantage of a helpless man, condemned to die and awaiting his end in a prison cell. But I'll forgive him. The way I am I can hold no malice against him, though God knows it is wrong. My end is near and I want to go away with nothing on my mind but I hope it will be attended to by my friends. Tell him I hope God will forgive him, for I forgive him but I am not willing for him to have that place. I want my children to have it and I want him to get all the money due him. Justly. I had to pray hard to get it off my mind. I hope he'll meet me in heaven and all the rest of my enemies. I've got to die and can go with a good cheer. I can put God in front and go right home from this world where people have robbed me of my property and wronged me out of my life. What the state did to me I want to get off my mind. It makes me look back and see what advantages it took of me. I'll forgive the state if God will. The state settled it the way it wanted. It is now done. I've got to __ innocent. Ask me no more questions for I want at last to die in peace. Here our interview ended, Williams saying he objected to seeing a disposition on the part of the people to make his execution the subject of a popular frolic. By this time three sisters of St. Dominick entered the jail to pray with the prisoners and oOur reporter then held a short interview with Frank Scott, who, December 20, 1876, killed Ransom Phillips, on the Wolf River Bridge, near this city. He does not seem at all annoyed because of my approaching and but calmly and smilingly looks out of his prison window upon the gallows erected near by, on which he will be launched into immortality. He has been frequently visited by the Catholic clergy and adopted their faith and says he will die with his trust in God. To converse with him one would never think this man realized that he will be jerked out of existence between one and two o'clock this afternoon. Death has no terror for him and he will die without quailing. Frank Scott says he is only concerned about his soul and cherishes no enmity toward anyone. He was very much amused to see the carpenters at work on the gallows in front of his window but he knew they took no pleasure in the work as they had no hard feelings for him. He had seen hanging and does not dread his death by such means. He says he had received a call from Attorney General Wright who wanted to know if he had any hard feelings against him for prosecuting him. He assured him he had laid aside all enmity toward him, the judge, jury and the false witnesses who swore his life away. Being told of the action of the court in the appropriation of ten dollars to buy him a death suit, Scott seemed to be very much pleased. Scott says that Williams hoots at the idea of confessing to a priest or any other human being. He details a conversation between himself and Williams, held through a hole in the division wall of their cells night before last. He told Williams that this was the last night but one they would spend together on earth, as they were soon to try the unknown realities of eternity. Williams, he says, replied, "that is not yet recorded." Their conversation then turned upon Religion but Williams told him he would not take part in the great resurrection if he died in the Catholic faith. In his remarks yesterday, Scott said he had but one request to make. He had seen many persons hung and while he did not dread death at all still he wanted to be put in the grave decently and allowed to remain there. Because of his being a stout, healthy man, he feared the doctors might want his body; but he would intrust it to the undertaker as the Catholic clergy had promised him a Christian burial. This was all he had to say. He had no ill feeling toward any person on earth and has even forgiven the witnesses who swore his life away. He repeated his innocence and says he killed Ransom Phipps [sic], colored, in self-defense but false witnesses have consigned him to death. He is ready and willing to die. |
The DAILY APPEAL issue of January 8, 1876 described the executions of FRANK SCOTT and WILLIAM WILLIAMS. The former prisoner was taken to the gallows adjacent the jail in Memphis about one o'clock, January 7, and hanged. He had made arrangements to have his remains buried in the Catholic Calvary Cemetery in Memphis. On the same day,
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WILLIAM WILLIAMS was taken by train to Bartlett, Tenn. and there on a gallows "in front of the courthouse yard" was hanged about one o'clock. He had made arrangements to have his remains buried in the graveyard of the Hatchie Baptist Church, a black congregation. Both men were executed because juries had found them guilty of murder, in separate crimes; the men were not confederates but were simply hanged on the same date.
The description of the execution of WILLIAMS, given in the Memphis DAILY AVALANCHE, January 8, 1876 is particularly poignant:
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At Bartlett. The execution of William Williams yesterday [January 7] excited no fervor of enthusiasm, more even evoked an undue degree of curiosity. It was in every sense a grave, respectable, satisfactory judicial episode which may be looked back upon in other times by the executive officials of the county as a singularly 'prosperous' event, as the old chroniclers would quaintly term it. Sheriff Anderson had provided, by previous arrangement with the railroad officials, for having a special train of two cars ready at the Ohio Depot, adjacent to the [Memphis] jail, at the hour of 10 a.m., Friday, January 7, 1876, to take out "Billy,' in charge of Deputy Sheriff Tom Taylor, an excellent, discreet, quiet, prompt official and such other guards as might be deemed necessary. It was found when the time arrived that only one passenger car would be necessary as no more than a dozen people evinced an inclination to pay a dollar in railroad fare and wait 'sort a-loose round Bartlett' four hours for the slim enjoyment of witnessing a very ordinary hanging. All things were ready at the hour named. The prisoner was escorted over from the jail by a few guards with guns and bayonets and put into a dilapidated baggage car, together with a dozen or so extra guns and bayonets designed for trusty hands already appointed at Bartlett to act as guards on the arrival of the prisoner. A poplar coffin, stained like walnut, was also put into the car, designed for the use of the culprit. It was studded with a series of those tall-headed bright pewter screws that give such things a tone of respectability and importance foreign to their office. The prisoner was accompanied by Rev. T. Nightingale who officiates as Baptist preacher for the colored people about Bartlett and also preaches occasionally in the big church on Beal [Beale] Street near Desoto. On the way out Billy spoke but little. He shook hands with all who were introduced to him with something of his aforetime suavity but he showed a little shaknesss and anxiety, having lost of abandoned all bravado, promised to die game and bid goodbye to the world with a sound heart, in good will with all mankind. He would not allow his mind to dwell upon the facts of his case at all and he chopped off conversations relating to that topic very summarily. The attending minister, Mr. Nightingale, wore black kids and was otherwise provided for the execution of his sacred functions with books and so forth but found, like most interrogators, that it was unprofitable ground to attempt probing with the inwardness of the case with the view of drawing lessons therefrom. The short journey out was without incident. At the little depot in Bartlett there were gathered, perhaps, 300 people, mostly colored, awaiting the arrival of the special. The guards previously mentioned as having been provided, boarded the train, took possession of the guns and arranged themselves in such order as best to secure the retention of the prisoner or repel an attempted rescue from without. Deputy Sheriff Tom Taylor and Colonel [Clark] Barteau, the prosecuting attorney for the state, whose unwearied efforts had happily secured a final judgment, were in the car with the prisoner. Perhaps 15 minutes elapsed before 'Billy' was led out and escorted to a spring wagon, drawn by two horses, upon which his coffin had previously been placed. The deputy sheriff and a few guards took possession of the vehicle, Billy was accommodated with a seat on his coffin, and then the straggling procession moved at a brisk pace on its way to the courthouse, 500 yards away. The crowd of men, women and children followed as if they were going to see a dog-fight. Most of the white people remained about the depot and the stores as if indifferent to the event or as if they were not over anxious to be in time at the death or not. The prisoner was accommodated with a room in the Courthouse on the ground floor, while the guards were distributed above the vestibule and outside. In the prisoner's room there were a few chairs, a table, a small case full of law books and a glass pitcher full of water. Rev. Mr. T. Nightingale was reinforced by Eld. Harris, a tall hardworking looking black man of the Baptist faith. Clerk [John] McBrooks of the Bartlett court, Colonel Barteau and another reported were also within the limits of that little chamber. The prisoner became calmer by degrees and even learned to smile gracefully when spoken to upon the subject of his prospective journey into those regions of immensity where no friend could ever find him again. He said he began to realize the kindliness of death, that he felt like he who had been away from home and was returning, drawing nearer and nearer to that home of his where he would enjoy repose. He felt no ill will toward anybody, he was at peace with the world. Three of his former farming companions, stout, hearty looking men and good natured with all, were admitted in to see him. He conversed freely with them, reiterating his sentiment that he |
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felt like one returning home; and making little of short existence and much trials and wretchedness. He felt confident there was peace beyond the grave. He did not learn it out of books. He was not taught that by any preachers. He felt it from God. Every moment seemed to bring him into a more assured state of mind and greater peace or greater indifference. Shortly before the Sheriff ordered the procession to the rendezvous Billy's mother was admitted. They shook hands in the ordinary way and had no 'scene' nor conversation. The preacher and elder then intoned a hymn and Elder Harris said a prayer. Rev. Mr. Nightingale had been previous to this setting next to the prisoner with the Avalanche spread out before him and he consulted that, talked to the prisoner and arranged with the elder about the order of services alternately. After inaugurating the religious part of the programme, however, the Rev. T. Nightingale attended to the business in hand with much unction. A few minutes before 1 o'clock the procession was formed led by Deputy Sheriff Taylor and composed of ten or twelve guards, the prisoner, the ministers, two reporters and the others. The scaffold, a slight, graceful but substantial affair, stood in one corner of the courthouse lot outside the fence, upon about an acre of open, flat ground. The guards made a circle of twenty yards diameter about it and kept the crowd outside of those limits with very little difficulty. In truth, the congregation that gathered to witness the scene were exceedingly quiet and orderly. Having mounted the scaffold, the prisoner, whose handcuffs had not been taken off since he left the jail, the two preachers, Colonel Barteau, Deputy Sheriff Taylor and the two reporters, religious services at once commenced. 'Billy' occupied a chair placed in the middle of the scaffold, the platform of which was about nine feet high, approached by a series of slight steps. Rev. T. Nightingale gave out the hymn 'Jerusalem, My Happy Home' and then read a chapter from the gospel of St. John, 'in my father's house there are many mansions, etc.' He said that 'Dear William', the prisoner, had told him to read that particular passage. He said he did not know why 'Dear William' had selected that to be read unless it was that he had conversed with God the previous night on the subject. He had no doubt but William had some communication from the Divinity on that point which led him to pitch upon the happy lines just read from the gospel of St. John. In the course of the short address, the Rev. T. Nightingale did not say that 'Dear William' was guilty; but he said there were thousands in the world and plenty round 'dar' who had conceived the same sort of design but had not the courage or the means to carry it out, as that for which 'Billy' was going to die. Some regarded this passage as the statement of a confession made by 'Billy' to the Rev. T. Nightingale while others said it was merely a sort of peculiar rhetorical embelishment drawn from the region of theology that the preacher used. After the discourse prayer was offered by the same hand and then the prisoner was turned over to the sheriff who asked him if he had anything to say. The prisoner spoke about four lines of nonpareil. He died at peace with all the world, had nothing against nobody, felt he was going to rest like a man who had been on a journey and was going home to die no more. He felt sure he was going to a better world, a place that was prepared for the good. He did not get his Religion from 'de book.' He got it from God, it came from the heart and he was not indebted for it to any books or preachers. At this point a voice from the crowd ascended, saying, 'Billy, tell us one thing, are you guilty or not?' The sheriff said, 'ah, pshaw'; the preacher said, 'that, is between himself and his god now' and the reporter thought it did not make much difference anyhow at that stage of the proceedings as the item was bound to ripen and his confession would have no result one way or another. 'Billy' himself said nothing on the subject. The death warrant from the Supreme Court was read by the Deputy Sheriff and also the subsequent Executive Stayer of Proceedings from the 24th of December to the 7th January, the same document being the authority of the sheriff for having made the elaborate preparations to take away the life of one William Williams from the crime of murder. The prisoner looked up at the beam about eight feet above his head from which dangled the rope. The proceedings went smoothly on. In the presence of perhaps five hundred uneducated negroes, old and young, besides a fair sprinkling of whites, there was no unseemly word spoken, no jibing cheer made; all was quiet, orderly, graceful. The scaffold even had no weird appearance but rose in light and elegant proportions upon the most elevated plat about Bartlett and held itself gracefully erect athwart the serene blue sky, bathed in warm sunshine. The outlines of seven or eight mortals figured against the cerulean blue. At a distance of two hundred yards a stranger would imagine, coming suddenly on the scene, that it was a somber political meeting of which 'Billy' was chairman, except that cross beam above and the rope dangling from it. Everything lay bathed in light and hushed in repose. The bounty of the county had provided Billy with a pair of thin black cassimere pants and vest, an alpaca coat and polished shoes, so that he might |
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make a presentable appearance before so large an audience on the momentous occasion. With these little accessions he managed to look well and it was only to the eye of those trained to study such things that a terror appeared in Billy's physique and that the beating of his heart shook the light material of his coat perceptibly, still Billy may be said to have looked with a calm and equal eye upon his inevitable fate and when he looked up at that beam between him and the sunshine and gazed upon that fatal rope dancing in the crisp atmosphere, he showed a steadiness of eye and placidity of countenance that would have honored a greater character. He showed all the outward bearing of a high-toned, chivalrous and polished vagabond as ever graced Tyburn tree and the greatest event of his life, which was his death, was honored by as decorous and orderly an audience as ever stood under a scaffold. The Deputy Sheriff, a few minutes after 1 o'clock, proceeded to pinion the legs and arms of the culprit with the same straps that did service for the state in the case of moody. In addition to the strapping, his arms were secured behind him by a stout rope while his hands were still held fast by the cuffs in front. Col.. Tom Taylor proceeded with these preparations methodically and with a quiet haste that produced those pleasurable feelings in the spectacle that comes from witnessing any job well and neatly done. Before the crowd was aware that he had finished his preparations he sprung the trap and 'Billy' fell five feet with a gentle 'thud.' The victim of the law struggled very little. After six minutes he ceased to convulse; with a deep, prolonged heave of the chest his body collapsed into that flaccid condition which, if it had not bespoke death, indicated a fatal comatose state from which there was no possibility of recovering. After 15 minutes Dr. Duncan was called on to examine the subject. He said he could find no evidence of life and after 20 minutes the body was taken down and placed in the coffin which was under the scaffold and given into the possession of his friends. The crowd dispersed as quietly as if they had been leaving a revival. |
[Billy Williams may have been buried in the Taylor Graveyard on the Ward Plantation on the Somerville Road about two miles east of the heart of Bartlett, where other local blacks, members of the Baptist church, had been buried and would be buried for many years.]
[From testimony given in Williams' two trials, conveyed in the transcript to the state supreme court, on Saturday evening, September 7, 1874, he and a black man named Joe Fields met for a little frolic at the house of Branch Grinnell about two miles from Shelby Depot which in turn was about eighteen miles from Memphis. Williams' 115 acre farm was located near the former place. Williams and Fields set off, going towards the Williams farm — Fields was a tenant of his. Fields came up missing. Sampson Pryor testified that on Sunday afternoon Williams sought his help in carrying the lifeless body of Fields, whom he had admitted having killed with a hickory stick, and tried to hide it but it all came out. Pryor stated that Williams had confided in him that Fields had threatened to have him charged with rape on his wife and as he "thought" that his life was as dear as Fields' was to him, he decided to kill him. Williams had sold his farm to Goodlett & Company to help pay his legal expenses and other debts.]
[The Shelby Depot mentioned as the area in which the farm of Billy Williams was located was what is now Brunswick, Tennessee. The depot grew up on the railroad; its post office was known for years as Sulphur Wells but according to national postal records in June 1880 the location officially became Brunswick.]
BENJAMIN S. WILLIAMSON, one of the oldest citizens/residents of Holly Springs, Miss., died January 4, 1876 in the 80th year of his age; masonic funeral ceremony.
W. J. FUTHEY died in Memphis, January 6, 1876.
Dr. PAUL A. BURT, Oxford, Miss., married MAMIE E. daughter of Dr. George T. STAINBACK, Memphis, in the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Memphis, January 6, 1876; they would reside in Oxford, Mississippi.
January 8, 1876
WILLIAM MURRAY and FRANK MYERS were executed in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, January 8, 1876, for the murder of GOTTSHARDT WAHL, a farmer near Perryville, Pa., November 11, 1874. Murray, a carpenter, was born in New Haven in 1830. Myers, a native of Germany, aged 35 years, was a harnessmaker.
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Mrs. MARY BAUNEGAN, native of Ireland, aged about 77 years, burned to death in New Orleans, La., January 6, 1876.
A man named McLEAN was hanged near Jackson, Tenn., January 7, 1876, manifesting his "coolness and indifference" in his situation. [MARTIN McLEAN was hanged about a half mile south of the Madison County courthouse in Jackson, Tennessee, at the foot of Liberty Street, on January 7, 1876, for having shot and killed THADDEUS POPE, April 25, 1874. The JACKSON SUN, January 7, 1876, reported the rather stoic demeanor of McLEAN in meeting his fate.]
The Memphis DAILY AVALANCHE, January 8, 1876:
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Jackson, Tenn. [Special to the Avalanche, January 7] From the Jackson Sun of today we collate the following; Milton McLean was hung one-half mile south of this City at the foot of Liberty Street, precisely at 1 o'clock today. Mayor King and the city police force constituted the Sheriff's guard. McLean was cool and undaunted, manifesting the same indifference which he has done since he killed Pope. To the officiating ministers he stated that he remembered killing Pope, that he had no regrets and was ready to meet his fate. He said he was at peace with his God. Leaving the jail he laughed at Sheriff May' s awkwardness in tying his arms, and said 'I am a man and it is unnecessary to tie me to lead me to my fate.' Sitting upon his coffin as he rode to the gallows the only voluntary remark he made was that there were a great many people in town. He parted with his family without a tremor or a tear. Arrival at the scaffold, he remarked to same Brown, the carpenter whom he requested to build the scaffold, 'Sam, I hope you have made a good job of this.' Brown said he had done his best. Rev. Drs. Slater and McNair conducted the services which were very impressive. McLean participated, kneeling in the Methodist style of prayer and standing in the Presbyterian. When the ministers took their leave of him they asked if he had anything to say before his execution. He replied, 'I have nothing to say.' A period of ten minutes elapsed in perfect silence, awaiting the appointed hour and McLean seemed as indifferent as any spectator. When the sheriff adjusted the fatal noose McLean held his long beard out of the way of the rope and then stepped firmly upon the trap and buttoned his coat closely about him as cooly as if dressing for a ride. His hands were tied and the veil adjusted and precisely at 1 o'clock the fatal trap was sprung and McLean was launched into eternity. The drop was five feet tall. The rope slipped throwing the knot behind his neck and he died of strangulation. At ten minutes after one his pulse was beating thirty times to the minute. At twenty-one minutes the pulse was still but muscular movement indicated life. At twenty-five minutes life was extinct and he was cut down at precisely 1:30. No man ever died gamer than Milton McLean. From the time he killed Pope to the hour of his execution, he never betrayed the least fear, nor manifested the least desire to escape. A large petition, signed by over 700 persons was forwarded to the governor to have his sentence commuted which the governor declined to do. There was an immense crowd and perfect order. Milton McLean who was executed for the killing of Thaddeus Pope in Madison County on the 25th day of April, 1874, the killing, according to evidence, being without cause, had a negro named George Red, in his employ, with whom he quarreled a few days prior to the murder. Leaving McLean, Red went and employed with Pope . The morning Pope was killed he went with the negro to McLean's farm to assist him in moving his household goods to his new quarters. 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, 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 his right breast. Pope fell and died in a few hours but before his death stated that there had been no difficulty between him and McLean and that he knew of no reason why McLean shot him. McLean went home after the killing and remained there, as usual, until arrested, neither making any effort to escape nor to resist arrest. He was arrested soon after the killing and lodged in the county jail in Jackson. At the September term of the Circuit Court (1874) he was tried and convicted or murder in the first degree. A new trial was granted on account of errors in the record and at the August special term (1875) he was again found guilty of murder in first degree and sentenced to be hung. The only defense made for him was the plea of insanity. Motion for another trial was made which was overruled. An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court (Tennessee] which tribunal affirmed the decision of the circuit court and sentenced him to be hung on the 7th of January. McLean received his sentence with remarkable calmness and passed from the courtroom to his cell eating an apple. |
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Mclean was born in Guilford County, North Carolina in 1838; moved to Madison County in 1867, married a Miss Gee in Hardeman County in 1868, has two children, both boys, aged respectively 6 and 3 years. His family are very poor and entirely dependent upon him. He worked in Jackson at a bricklaying for several years then for a short time in Hardeman County, then at farming in Madison County, near Medon, where he was living at the time of the killing of Pope. His parentage were respectable. It was his fortune to toil from his childhood. He was always exceedingly eccentric and given to strange conduct. He was a silent man, very seldom speaking unless spoken to. Even in his family he talked but little. He was regarded by his acquaintances as a very dangerous and very cruel man, one that would strike to kill on slight provocation and whose heart was a stranger alike to fear or remorse. |
[Was this man what professionals now called a psychopath?]
January 9, 1876
A. M. HOLBROOK, editor and proprietor of the New Orleans PICAYUNE [newspaper] died a few days ago.
A. W. YOUNG, formerly of Memphis, died in New York City, Dec. 31, 1875 aged 41 years.
Mrs. M. [E.] A. T. VANCE, wife of Judge Vance, died in Hernando, Miss., January 8, 1876 aged 61 years.
J. F. DAVIDSON married MARY C. BOGART, Memphis, January 6, 1876 in Linden Street Christian Church.
Major R. B. HURT of Jackson, Tennessee, representative in the last legislature from Madison, Hardeman and Haywood counties "has been spending some days in our city. He is one of the most intelligent, energetic and public-spirited citizens of Tennessee and to him is Jackson indebted for much of her prosperity and rapid growth. "
JOHN LOAGUE announced himself as a candidate for re-election as mayor of Memphis. During his tenure of office he claimed, "The debt of the city has been largely diminished; taxation has been immensely reduced and heavy and grievous burdens lifted from the shoulders of the people." [Judge Barbour Lewis, radical Republican, praised Loague "as a man of ability and iron will," in the January 11, 1876 issue of the APPEAL.]
January 11, 1876
MrS. A. A. CAMPBELL died on Washington Street in Memphis, January 10, 1876.
JOSEPH L. FITHIAN, New Orleans, married Mrs. MARY MILLER EAKIN, Memphis, January 8, 1876.
Again mentioned that JOHN LOAGUE, a member of the radical Republican Party, was seeking re-election; he had been elected mayor of Memphis two years ago and had the support of Judge Barbour Lewis in this year's election. JOHN R. FLIPPIN, Democrat, who was supported by the DAILY APPEAL, was his opponent in the mayoralty race.
GEORGE WILLIAMS, a black roustabout [laborer] on the steam "St. Francis Belle" fell into the Mississippi River at Memphis early on the morning of January 10, 1876 and having been caught under the wheel of another steamer was drowned.
The Vicksburg, Miss. HERALD of January 7, 1876 was quoted as to the brutal beating the day before of "a strange boy from Memphis," who had been attacked near the corner of Washington and Jackson streets in Vicksburg by at least three teenagers; it appeared in a jury of inquest that one of the youths, TONEY GOMES, had actually stuck the boy with a brick or stone on his left temple, rendering him a fatal injury. "We would suggest that before interment the mayor have the photograph of the dead boy taken so that the same may be sent to Memphis for identity by a father or mother, mourning in sorrow over the stillness of a young voice that will never make music in their hearts again."
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January 12, 1876
JAMES C. W. BRENNAN died in Memphis, January 11, 1876 of consumption, aged 46 years.
VIRGINIA E. wife of L. W. HAMILTON died in Bartlett, January 10, 1876 of consumption, aged 27 years of age; burial would be in Kalamazoo, Michigan beside her parents.
CHARLES W. CORRELL married LILIE SCHWANDEL, formerly of Vicksburg, Miss., in Memphis, January 11, 1876.
NORRIS J. WIGGINS of Memphis declared bankruptcy in United States District Court in Memphis, December 29, 1875.
Dr. GEORGE S. FOUTE, son of Judge G. P. Foute, left January 11, 1876 from Memphis for his new home in Dennison, Texas.
Board of Directors of the MEMPHIS GERMAN NATIONAL BANK were elected January 11, 1876: J. N. FALLS, E. T. KEEL, R. S. JONES, LOUIS HANAUER, J. C. NEELEY, J. N. OLIVER, V. BACIGALUPO, M. L. MEACHAM, A. L. HARRIS, G. L. DENNISON, D. P. HADDEN, J. J. JENNY and H. E. GORTH. [This banking institution was chartered in 1864; reorganized in 1885 as the German Bank of Memphis.]
January 13, 1876
GEOFGE M. ROBERTSON married BELLE TATE OLIVER, both of Memphis, at Grace Church, January 11, 1876.
PETER A. TIGRE married MOLLIE C. GARVIN at St. Peter's Catholic Church, Memphis, Jan. 12, 1876.
January 14, 1876
Dr. W. L. WILLIAMSON, Oakland, Miss., married EMMA Q. MOORE, Ark., in Goodwin, Ark., Jan. 10, 1876.
R. D. MEAD [READ], superintendent of Muldoon, Bullet & Co., steam stoneworks, Memphis, married N. A. TOWNSEND in Memphis, January 13, 1876.
In the Memphis municipal election of January 13, 1876, Judge JOHN R. FLIPPIN, Democrat, won over JOHN LOAGUE, Radical Republic; the city's Irish, German and Italian and even a goodly number of the black voters of the city lent to the defeat of Loague. The PUBIC LEDGER, January 14, 1876, announced that Flippin won the election 4345 to 1564 votes.
January 18, 1876
WILSON WILLIAMS mentioned as the editor and proprietor of the HERALD, a Humboldt, Tenn. newspaper.
January 19, 1876
Notice of acceptance of architectural plans for a courthouse to be built in Somerville, Fayette Co., Tenn., by January 25, 1876. Courthouse commissioners were THOMAS R. COCKE, J. L. PULLIAM, W. BOYD, EVAN GEORGE, L. S. HAILEY, H. C. MOORMAN and W. B. DORTCH.
January 20, 1876
The business of GEORGE R. CHEEK and DANIEL DUGAN, Memphis, was dissolved January 17, 1876.
Mrs. ELIZA McARDEL JOHNSON wife of former president, ANDREW JOHNSON, was born in 1811 and married at the age of 18 years in 1829 to Johnson, whom he consistently credited for her positive influence on his life and career, that had "led him up from the humble station of an artisan to the first office in the gift of the American people." She died in the residence of her daughter, Mrs. Patterson, in Greeneville, Tenn., Jan. 15, 1876. [Andrew Johnson married Eliza McCardle, October 4, 1810-Jan. 15, 1876, on May 17, 1827. See BURKE'S PRESIDENTIAL FAMILIES OF THE UNITED STATES, New York, 1975, page 312.]
January 21, 1876
EDWARD WILDER son of Mary S. and the late William R. KNIGHT of Memphis, died in Louisville, Ky., January 18, 1876 of scarlet fever.
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The estate of THOMPSON MCCLEARY was declared insolvent January 19, 1876. James A. Anderson, administrator.
The estate of ROBERT PORTER was declared insolvent January 19, 1876. J. A. Anderson, administrator.
January 22, 1876
Mrs. SARAH. J. HOWELL, nee BELL, died in residence of her son, Dr. J. H. Howell, Brownsville Tenn., January 5, 1876 at a "ripe old age."
THOMAS PICKETT who had a legal interest in the estate of JERRY JAMESON, dec., was a non-resident of Tennessee, living in Missouri.
January 23, 1876
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-The following is the Mortuary report for the week ending yesterday afternoon at six o'clock: |
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NAME |
AGE |
SEX |
COL'R |
CAUSE |
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J. Border |
40 |
male |
white |
pn'monia |
January 25, 1876
ROBERT HUIE died in Tyro, Mississippi, January 19, 1876 in the 68th year of his age.
DANIEL KUSWORM had been appointed administrator of the estate of SUSAN POWELL, dec., Shelby Co., Tenn. and he directed Jan. 24, 1876 that claims against the estate be filed promptly with the county court clerk.
W. C. PERCY, an old man, killed himself by cutting his throat in Jeffersonville, Indiana, January 21, 1876.
January 26, 1876
Mrs. ANN MULLIGAN died in Memphis, Jan. 25, 1876, aged 50 years.
Mrs. ANNA MARIE THERESE FUCHS, mother of Alexander and Victor D. Fuchs, died in Memphis, January 25, l876. [Requiem mass was held at St. Mary's Catholic Church in her memory on May 24, 1876.]
BRANHAM MERRILL PHILLIPS only child of E. P. and Estelle Phillips, died Jan. 25, 1876 aged 3 years, 11 days.
The funeral of C. F. HAGELSTANSE was to be held on the morning of January 26, 1876 [German]
On January 20, 1876, Captain H. H. HALL of the firm, Hall and Bradens, Paris, Texas, was shot and killed by John Hart son of Judge Hardin Hart of Hart and Company, Greenville, Texas. Hart made his escape.
J. M. BAKER, a young farmer, was murdered on January 11, 1876 on the public highway, 12 miles from Rockdale, Texas, by a black man, ANTHONY SMITH, who had trailed Baker after the farmer had sold his cotton and was on his way back to his farm. On January 19, 1876 a verdict of guilty for this crime was passed on Smith by a jury but a mob grabbed him as he was being taken to jail and he was taken a few miles out of Rockdale and there burned.
ARCHIE McNEAL, Memphis, fell into the Mississippi River at Scanian's Landing and drowned January 24, 1876.
January 27, 1876
S. H. TOPPING married Mrs. JULIA F. LEGUERE, Memphis, January 25, 1876.
S. J. KNOTT oldest son of the Rev. Dr. [James W.] Knott of Memphis, married MOLLIE RASPBERRY, Crittenden Co., Ark., January 25, 1876.
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January 28, 1876
WILLIAM D. STEPHENS, Los Angeles, California, married SALLIE C. STEPHENS, Memphis, in San Bernardino, CA, January 11, 1876.
January 29, 1876
The partnership of T. B. HAYNES, H. C. HAMPSON and D. L. FERGUSON, cotton factors and commission merchants, under the name of T. B. HAYNES & CO., Front Street, Memphis, was dissolved Jan. 7, 1876 as Haynes was retiring. The other two parties formed a new firm called FERGUSON & HAMPSON on this date.
January 30, 1876
JAMES N. ADAMS, THOMAS H. ANDERSON, FREDERICK R. DAILY, JOHN W. McKISSACK, FREDERICK T. NEAL, HOWELL L. PUCKETT, EDGAR WATERS, ROBERT Y. WILLIAMS, Tennessee; ALBERT G. NORRELL, Miss.; STEPHEN W. BLOUNT, Texas; all young men had received their diplomas at the law school [Cumberland University] in Lebanon, Tennessee.
[Although a death notice does not appear in the January issues of the APPEAL for him, the tombstone, off its base in Chapel Hill section, Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis, reads: JAMES M. son of B. F. & M. A. McCONELL. Born Nov. 21, 1875. Died Jan. 8, 1876. Asleep in Jesus.]
February 3, 1876
A young woman, KATE SIMPSON, alias McCORMICK, from Humboldt, Tenn., died February 1, 1876 in a Memphis boardinghouse after having aborted a female stillborn child on January 30, 1876, assisted by Dr. D. S. JOHNSON. She had become pregnant by a shoemaker who had promised to marry her but didn't. She left Humboldt in disgrace because of her condition. Her mother, Mrs. McCormick, came to Memphis but instructed that her deceased daughter be buried in Memphis "as she has no desire to have it [body of Kate] interred near her home."
[February 5, 1876 issue noted that the charitable citizens of Memphis paid to have Kate decently buried in Elmwood Cemetery on February 4, 1876. The February 9, 1876 issue noted that the Humboldt HERALD had mentioned that Mrs. McCormick and her daughter, Kate, had moved to Humboldt from Dyer County about a year earlier; the husband of the mother being a respectable man of that county; that the two women had kept a boardinghouse off Washington Street in Humboldt. February 10, 1876 issue noted that Dr. Johnson had given Kate a mixture of drugs and powder which had resulted in the abortion and subsequent death of Kate. May 10, 1876 issue noted that Dr. Johnson had been "acquitted and exonerated from all charges" relative to Kate McCormick's demise.]
"A Revolting Crime" appeared in the DAILY AVALANCHE, February 3, 1876:
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Yesterday morning acting coroner Spelman held an inquest on tile body of a young woman named Katie McCormick who died from childbirth at a boardinghouse kept by Mrs. Widrig, at the corner of Winchester and Second streets. The child was born Saturday night and the fact being made known to chief Athy, inquiries were made which resulted in his placing under arrest yesterday morning, Dr. D. S. Johnson who keeps private infirmary at No. 17 Jefferson street. The testimony given at the inquest developed the following facts: The deceased, Katie McCormick who was a handsome young woman of about twenty-one years of age, came to this city from Humboldt some time before Christmas but remained only one night. Returning again to Memphis some three weeks ago, she secured board at Mrs. Widrig's. The testimony of Mrs. Widrig was as follows. "The girl came to her house some time before Christmas but only stayed one night, that she came back three weeks ago and on Saturday night, or, rather, Sunday morning, she was delivered of a dead child; that Dr. Johnson had been attending her; that her suspicions were aroused and she asked Katie to tell her the whole truth; on Sunday Dr. Frayser had been sent to see Katie by Chief Athy and told her that the girl would die; this she told to Katie who seemed much affected and made a confession. She said, 'Mrs. Widrig, I think my time is short,' and then she added, 'Dr. Johnson gave the medicine to destroy my child; tell Dr. Johnson that I promised not to deceive him or tell any person but the time has come when I can keep the secret no longer; I paid Dr. Johnson twenty-five dollars for the medicine; he gave me the medicine some three weeks ago and said if it did not work in six days it would be a failure; I took the medicine from Dr. Johnson to kill my child and paid him twenty-five dollars for it.'" |
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Dr. Johnson's statement was to the following effect, "Three weeks ago I first saw the deceased; she came to my office and told her story and wanted to hide her disgrace; I advised her not to commit abortion as it was against the law; I called to see her at Mrs. Widrig's boardinghouse and prescribed for diarrhea; on Sunday morning I called and found that she had a miscarriage; I then called on Dr. Marable; the prescription given her by me was ascetate of irad and morphine; the girl seemed troubled and said she would sooner die than live; she said this both before and after the abortion had taken place." After considing the matter four hours the jury was unable to arrive at a verdict and adjourned at 3 o'clock to meet at Chief Athy's office at 5 o'clock. In the meantime Dr. Johnson, who was held under arrest, was released by order of Esquire Spelman. The Jury of Inquest met at Chief Athy's office at 5 p.m. Dr. Henning was introduced and being sworn stated that he visited the woman in company with Dr. Frayser about 5 o'clock Tuesday afternoon. He asked her whether instrumental or medical interference had been used in delivering her child. She at first said there was not but upon being urged to confess it, if such was the case, she said that three weeks before Christmas she came to see Dr. Johnson and told him she wanted to get rid of the child. Dr. Johnson said he could give me medicine to kill the child but feared that she was too far gone for that. She went back to Humboldt but returned to Memphis in about three weeks. She would reveal nothing more to Dr. Henning, stating that she wanted to see Dr. Johnson before she told any more. Dr. Henning left about 6 o'clock and after he left, it is asserted by Mrs. Widrig the woman made the confession to her. After discussing the testimony adduced, the following verdict was presented: State of Tennessee, Shelby County. An inquisition, holden at Memphis, in the county and state aforesaid, on the 2d day of February, 1876, before John Spelman, J.P., Coroner of said county, upon the body of Kate Simpson, alias Kate McCormick, came to her death in the following manner, to wit: by reason of the premature birth of a female infant, stillborn; and that the premature birth was occasioned by means of medicines administered for the producing of abortion under the direction of Dr. D. S. Johnson. In testimony whereof the said juror have hereunto set their hands, the day and date above written. [Signed by the foreman, M. H. Reilly and five other jury members] |
The Memphis PUBLIC LEDGER, an evening newspaper, noted in its July 2, 1876 issue that Kate [also called Katie] McCormick "was a blonde, with a clear cut and handsome face (and) tall and large in size." According to an account published in the same newspaper, February 4, 1876, Kate McCormick's corpse had been moved on the evening of February 2 from the boardinghouse where she had died and was taken to the makeshift quarters called the county, morgue in a Union Street stable; there it was placed in a plain box, readied for interment. It was here that this newspaper's representative, FRED BRENNAN, investigated the circumstances and appalled by them, sought out Captain GEORGE D. MILLER, with whom an appeal was made to the coroner to release the corpse to Hoist & Son morticians, for a decent burial in a proper casket, they paying for these decencies. Her corpse was so moved, being "rearranged, the sawdust was carefully brushed from the hair, face and clothing. "Kate's interment on the fourth of February in Elmwood Cemetery was arranged. It noted as well that the Humboldt shoemaker, GEORGE BURGESS, the father of Kate's stillborn child, failed to show an interest in her body's disposition and as for her mother, Mrs. McCormick, she is reported to have left Memphis on February 2 and "returned to Humboldt, seemingly not feeling any more interest in the dead and having no desire to pay the last sad tribute to the ashes of her daughter, "evidently more troubled about the publicity given to the affair than about the fate of her erring and unfortunate child."
The plight of young Kate/Katie McCormick touched the sympathetic sentiment of a thoughtful lady who paid for a marker to be placed at the young woman's grave in September 1997, bearing the inscription, "KATE McCORMICK Seduced and pregnant by her father's friend, unwed, she died from abortion, her only choice. Abandoned in life and death by family with but a simple rose from her mother. Buried only through the kindness of unknown benefactors. Died Feb. 1876 age 21. Victim of an unforgiving society, have mercy on us all." [Elmwood Cemetery, Fowler section, lot 239]
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This is a lovely tribute, graciously rendered, to one whose life ended in desperation. However, her actual interment may have been considerably less theatrical than this inscription suggests, as it attributes a lovely gesture by her mother which was probably not made, after all and her benefactors were not unknown, one being a newspaper reporter and the other a kind-hearted saloonist.
February 5, 1876
MAY EVELYN daughter of the late Dr. Baker WALSH and widow of the late Wash T. LEFTWICH, died near Goodlett Station, February 3, 1876; funeral today.
February 6, 1876
H. N. LENOIR married LOU STEWART [no date given]. [The Shelby County marriage book G, page 37, records that this couple married before a justice of the peace, Jan. 25, 1876.]
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The following is the mortuary report for the week ending yesterday afternoon at six o'clock: |
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|
NAME |
AGE |
SEX |
COL'R |
CAUSE |
|
Milton Rose |
4 |
male |
white |
con. fever. |
February 8, 1876
H. M. CLARK shot and killed SAM W. BOYD at Brownsville, Tenn., Feb. 5, 1876, after a sudden dispute between them.
February 9, 1876
The estate of J. A. CORBETT was declared insolvent, Shelby Co., Tenn., Jan. 31, 1876. E. V. Corbett, administrator.
February 10, 1876
MARY O. F. BRODER qualified as executrix of the last will/testament of JOSEPH BRODER, dec. and directed that any amounts due Broder or those against his estate be filed promptly with the county court clerk.
T. W. EDWARDS, a married man who had seduced a young lady in Washington County [Tennessee] had fled the county, leaving his family in destitute circumstances.
February 11, 1876
The funeral of VAN W. ANDERSON was to be held this morning from St. Peter's Catholic Church. Mention of the Memphis Bar Association's resolution of respect in his memory.
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OBITUARY. Mr. Reverdy Johnson was born at Annapolis, Maryland, May 12, 1796, being the son of Hon. John Johnson, chief judge of the first judicial district of Maryland, and afterwards chancellor of the State. He was an alumnus of St. John's college, Annaapolis, afterward studied law with his father, and was admitted to the bar in 1811. He soon acquired a large and lucrative practice in his native city and county, and he reported, during the next eleven years, the decisions of the court of appeals of Maryland, the greater part of the well known series of seven volumes of Harris and Johnson's Reports having been prepared by him. In 1817 he removed to Baltimore, and soon after was appointed deputy-attorney-general of Maryland, and in 1820 chief commissioner of insolvent debtors. From 1821 to 1825 he was State senator, and in the latter year resigned to devote himself to his practice, and before 1846 had attained to the leadership of the Maryland bar. He also occupied a high position at the bar of the supreme court of the United States. In 1845 be was elected a senator of the United States for Maryland and in 1849 was brought into the cabinet as attorney general of the United States by President Taylor. On the death of the President, in 1850, be retired from office, and continued to practice almost exclusively in the supreme court of the United States. In 1861 he was a member of the pace congress, and in 1862 was elected again to the United States senate. He |
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was employed by the government as an umpire in the adjustment of questions which had arisen with foreign governments at New Orleans, during the war. In June 1868, he was appointed minister to England. to succeed Hon. Charles Frances Adams. He negotiated a treaty for the settlement of the Alabama claims, which did not meet the views of the United States senate, and it was rejected by a very large majority. He was recalled early in 1869. In 1875 he visited England again and had only recently returned to his home in Baltimore. |
February 12, 1876
F. G. TERRY, a lawyer of Hill, Terry and Mitchell, died in Boston, Mass., February 11, 1876 in the 49th year of his age; resident of Memphis for twenty-five years.
"Colonel THOMAS H. HARRIS, brother of Hon. James B. Harris of Hardeman county [Tenn.] died at his residence, near Bolivar, last week. Colonel Harris was one of the oldest settlers of Hardeman county and a worthy citizen."
[Several members of Thomas Harris' family are buried in their graveyard on his old farm located several hundred feet west of North Loop Street in Bolivar, Tennessee, about four miles as the crow flies from the courthouse square in that town. On visiting the site in September 2002 the present writer found the cemetery to have been vandalized, the tombstones off the graves and some were missing. He had been told that this mischief had been done several years before the present owner of the land, Tom Anderson, Jr., acquired the tract upon which the graveyard is sited. Anderson has made an effort to preserve the graveyard. Years ago, Joe Jacobs Owens, a Hardeman County genealogist, visited the cemetery at which time she copied the dates on Thomas H. Harris' tombstone (apparently later pilfered), which are: born Dec. 16, 1813; died Feb. 6, 1876.]
Anecdotal offerings on prospective United States presidential candidates, 1876, as taken by the DAILY from the Chicago, Illinois TIMES:
JAMES G. BLAINE [1830-1893]
The veracious chronicles of the Blaine family assert and one dare gainsay it., that the subject was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, on December 31, 1830, at twenty minutes to midnight. That twenty minutes spoiled his chances of being usher for the new year of 1831. When Jimmy was of proper age, he was sent to college in the county, from whence he emerged with pedantic honors. The howling wilderness of Maine beckoned him thither (Horace Greeley had not at that time invented "Go west, young man.") The profession of journalism attracted the young man's eye and he sank gracefully into the tripod of the Portland ADVERTISER. Later he beamed behind the paste-cup and wielded the scissors of the Kennebec JOUNRAL. When in his twenty-ninth year, the moose and log-rollers combined and sent him to the Maine legislature where he remained by their continued preference until 1864, serving the last two years as speaker. Twelve years ago, James G. was sent to congress as a member of the thirty-eighth national assembly and has been returned regularly ever since, serving with distinction as speaker of the forty-third congress. His principles are ultra Republican. He is a skillful debater and the Nemesis of Sammy Cox.
ROSCOE CONKLING [1829-1888]
Who dwells in pant-up Utica when he is at home. The services of an obstetrician were required in the Conkling family on the thirtieth of October, 1829. When Roscoe looked about him he made the discovery that he was a native of Albany. An academic education was allotted him and the musty law claimed and captured him when he arrived at the coat-tail age. In 1846, when sweet seventeen, his parents moved him to Utica. He became a prominent citizen, held at seat on the platform when Susan B. Anthony lectured on "Reminiscences of the Deluge, "looked benevolent, attended town meetings and in 1858 became mayor of the city. He was sent by Uticans to the thirty-sixth congress, re-elected to the thirty-seventh, laid off a term, made connection with the thirty-ninth and was sent back to the fortieth. But New York had better work for Roscoe and he succeeded Harris to the United States senate, taking his seat March, 1867. Being a right smart chance of a statesman, he was re-elected and there he is now and will remain until 1879, unless
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otherwise provided for. He is a dyed-in-the-back-hair Republican. His name will be mentioned at Cincinnati in June next.
SAMUEL J. TILDEN [1814-1886]
This rather famous gentleman was born at New Lebanon, Columbiana county, New York, of rich but honest parents, on March 15, 1814. He was early weaned on Erie canal water and while yet young he showed the traits of reform that have since distinguished him. He reformed a bad boy who habitually whipped him by securing the services of a prizefighter who returned the compliment. The bad boy reformed for six months and made many good resolutions while in the hospital. In 1837 Samuel entered Yale college but failed to graduate. He subsequently carried off a diploma at another school. He studied law and in 1846 was sent to the State assembly by his constituents where he was retained for several terms. During the interim to his election as governor in 1868 he was prominently identified with New York politics and figured as a reformer in New York city. In 1872 he was re-elected governor on a reform platform which position he now holds. His term expires with the present year.
THOMAS FRANCIS BAYARD [1828-1898]
He is a fit subject for the pen of history as exercised in this instance. The Bayards run the State of Delaware and for three generations have held a chair in the United States senate. It was on the twenty-ninth day of October in the year of grace 1828. The deep tones of the Wilmington cathedral had just pealed forth the hour of midnight when a faint wail, suggestive of a drowning kitten, rose in the parlor bedroom of the elegant mansion of James A. Bayard. The sound proceeded from a nest of blankets in a crib and it was Thomas Francis Bayard's first utterance. In due time this scion of luxury was weighed and turned the balance probably at eight pounds. Time rolled on. Thomas Francis passed safely through the valley of measles; yea, through the shadow of the chicken-pox. He made mud piles and thew stones at blind beggars, like other boys. He was at length immured in the finishing school and educated. His pa designed him for mercantile pursuits but the goddess of the scales lured him to her den and thus he became a lawyer. The toga of an attorney was assumed in 1851. He has always practiced in his native city. In 1853 he was appointed United States district attorney for Delaware. This position he resigned in the following year. He was elected United States senator to succeed his father, James A., and took his seat March 4, 1869. His term expiring in March 1875 he was re-elected for another term. He is a Democrat of the pronounced type. Interest attaches to him as a possible Democratic candidate for the Vice-Presidency. As his family and the Saulsburys own Delaware he could carry that state.
R. B. HAYES [1822-18931
Scarcely had the war-whoop of the drunken Indian, on the Delaware county, Ohio reservation died away and the sturdy corner-grocers of the county-seat learned that articles of an eatable nature were safe is securely locked up, when word went out through the byways and the highways, that there was born to Mr. and Mrs. Hayes a son. 'Twas on October 4, 1822 that these glad tidings were disseminated. They called it Rutherford Bircher. When R. B. had cut his eye-teeth, he was sent to Kenyon college. Here he was not Rutherford Bircher but Rutherford Birchee. When R. B. went out into the cold, pitiless world, he became a lawyer. The drift of events carried him into that vortex of dissipation, the queen city of the west, Cincinnati. During the years 1858-59-60 and 61 he dealt out law for a stipend, in the capacity of city solicitor. "And then the soldier, full of fierce oaths and bearded like the pard, seeking the bubble reputation even at the cannon's mouth." He sought it to such purpose that he emerged from the smoke of war a brigadier-general, having entered as a major. In 1867 he was made governor of Ohio and served so well that he was again selected in 1869. R. B. laid over to rest two trips but mounted the stump last fall and rode once more into the harbor of preferment. Governor Hayes is now fifty-four years of "h'age and 'ale and 'arty." He lives at Fairmount, Ohio when "to hum."
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ALLEN G. THURMAN [1813-1895]
One bright November morning, sixty-three years ago, an old chaise rumbled along the streets of Lynchburg, Virginia. It was on the thirteenth day of November, 1813. The chaise stopped before a sumptuous dwelling on a quiet street. The old doctor got out and as he ascended the front steps he noticed that the silver-plate, which proclaimed to be world that the family of Thurman dwelt therein, needed cleaning. In a few hours he emerged, quietly remarking to a passing acquaintance that it was "a boy, "and then he drove away. Then and there did Allen G. Thurman enter this vale of tears and nation of politicians. Al received an academic course of instruction, having removed to Ohio in 1819. The possession of a beard found him awakening the echoes of the courtroom at Columbus and he addressed juries, bluffed witnesses and wheedled the court until the twenty-ninth congress assembled and Allen G. was on the floor. In 1851 the voters of Ohio invested him with authority to occupy a wool-sack on the supreme bench. From 1854 to 1856 he was chief justice of that court. Then Thurman took a rest until 1867 in which year an ungrateful public declined to elect him governor. He was, however, by a strong effort, elected to the senate that winter, to the intense surprise of everybody and took his seat in 1869. He was re-elected to the senate in 1874, where he will remain until 1881, unless death does from his office separate him. Thurman is a veritable member of the unterrified Democracy, always was a Democrat and always will be a Democrat. He is wealthy. He is proud of having descended from an F. F. V.
GEORGE H. PENDLETON [1825-1889]
That Mr. Pendleton is the available candidate for the Presidency in the event of the rival factions of the Democracy, i.e. hards and softs, becoming hopelessly estranged, is an acknowledged fact in all well-regulated political families. Mr. Pendleton was born on the twenty- fifth of July, 1825, at Cincinnati. The affluence of his parents secured for him a liberal education and he early embraced the profession of the law. He was sent to the State senate during the years 1854 and 1855. Soon after he represented the Cincinnati district in the thirty-fifth congress and was re-elected to the thirty-sixth, thirty-seventh and thirty- eighth congresses. In 1864 he was a candidate for the Vice-Presidency with George B. McClellan. Our recollection is that he was defeated. In 1868 Cincinnati went to New York with Pendleton as an aspirant for the Presidential nomination. Cincinnati came home with Horatio Seymour. Since that time "Gentleman George" has kept aloof from the political prize-ring but is now making all preparations to shy his castor into the circle. The ENQUIRER will second him. Mr. Pendleton has a palatial residence in the Cincinnati suburb of Clifton where he lives in princely style. Mr. Pentleton is eating oranges and making speeches in the south just now.
O. P. MORTON [1823-1877]
Oliver P. Morton, he was born in 1823, in the county of Wayne, State of Indiana, on the fourth of August. The heat was intense and his legs were sunstruck and he now walks with a pariah canes. Oliver, upon reaching the proper age, was handed over to the faculty of Miami university who graduated him. The bandaged-eyed goddess lured him to the domain of red tape. In brief, he pursued the pursuit of the law and ere long stood before Hoosier juries and asked to be heard for his cause. In time he was elected circuit judge of the fifth judicial district, wearing the ermine with due solemnity until called to the seat of lieutenant-governor in the year 1860. In 1861, when war begun, he assumed the gubernatorial chair, by reason of Governor Lane's resignation. Being one of the first down to the depot to see the boys off, besides being prominent in other ways in connection with the suppression of the rebellion, he acquired the sobriquet of the "war governor." He was elected to a second and a third term, filling the executive chair in all five years. He was elected to the United States senate to succeed Henry S. Lane and took his seat March 4, 1867. In 1872 he was re-elected and his term expires March 3, 1879. During the war Morton was a Union Republican and since an orthodox Republican. He is an able man. He has many enemies of high position whose aversion amounts to bitter hatred. He is a strong man among the people of Indiana.
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THOMAS A. HENDRICKS [1819-1885]
Should I neglect to mention this gentleman, in this connection, I very much fear me that there would be a Hoosier scalp-dance at the corner of Washington street and Fifth avenue, Chicago, at an early date. "Indiana's favored son" is a Buckeye by birth, having taken his first lacteal sustenance in Muskingum county, Ohio, the date of the operation being September 7, 1819. Hendricks is a virgin, a verging on sixty. Like ninteen-twentieths of the prominent politicians of the United States, he is a lawyer, having adopted the pursuit when quite young. He entered Indiana in 1844 and in 1848 held a desk on the floor of the Indiana house of representatives. Nest we find him in the State constitutional convention of 1850. The following year he was sent to congress and retained there for two terms. Upon his retirement the important position of commissioner of the general land office was tendered him. He accepted and remained there situated until 1859. His next preferment was his election to the senate, he taking the seat in March 1863 and retiring in 1867. Thomas A. rose up again in 1874 and sailed into the executive mansion of Indiana before a Democratic gale that blew fourteen thousand majority. Hendricks is a thorough politician. He can ride any number of horses; can be as dumb as an oyster or as talkative as a magpie, when occasion offers. His reputation as an equilibrist, when standing upon the ragged edge of the fence between issues is established and Thomas A. is a good listener. He will take the Indiana Democracy to the national convention without any apparent effort.
E. B. WASHBURNE [1816-1887]
In the atmosphere in which these sketches are written, the mention of Elihu B. Washburne as a candidate is taken cum grano salis. But still there are men and there are journals which rank him as a regularly ordained aspirant and so the biographical pen is called into requisition to note that he made his initiatory peep at daylight, in the village of Livemore, county of Oxford, State of Maine, on the twenty-third day of September in the year of grace 1816 and of American independence the fortieth. When the days of whooping cough had been ticked away by remorseless clocks into the awful chasm of the past, Elihu waxed in strength and wisdom day by day. And his parents said, "Lo and behold our child is a keen 'un; we will make of him a disciple of the art preservative of arts." And it came to pass that Elihu entered the office of a paper published at Kennebec in the State of Maine known as the JOURNAL, two dollars per year, invariably in advance. Five years did Elihu adjust movable alphabets, hold copy and quarrel with the foreman. Elihu then said, "I will arise and go unto Hartford university and there will I study law." And he delved and studied until one day he said, "I will journey to the land of Illinois and at the place called Galena will I pitch my tent and plant my vine." And it so came to pass. Elihu flourished and the people of Galena and the county thereabouts said unto him, "go thou to Washington and fight our battles." And it was to the thirty-third congress that he went and Elihu served so faithfully that he was sent again and again, serving, in all, eight times. And he was called the "father of the house," by his colleagues. One day he brought up a law creating the office of lieutenant-general of the army. Grant, whose surname is Ulysses, cut a fat slice by procuring the office. He fell upon Elihu's neck and when it came to pass that Ulysses was made chief ruler, he said unto Elihu, "Be thou my secretary of state." And Elihu said unto him, "I will, for a brief season." Then said Ulysses, "Be thou my minister to France. "And straightway Elihu declined to be secretary and he went to France and he is there unto this day.
[Of these celebrated characters, SAMUEL TILDEN carried the presidential banner for the Democrats and RUTHERFORD B. HAYES for the Republicans.]
February 13, 1876
Funeral of CARLO MARRE, father of Angelo and John Marre, to be held today. [PUBLIC LEDGER, February 11, states that Marre died Feb. 11, 1876 aged 71 years.]
MARY GLANCY widow of Michael Glancy died February l2, 1876, Memphis, in the 41st year of her age. [City death records show that she was a native of Ireland.]
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ROBERT HANNA married MOLLIE BENJES, Memphis, February 8, 1876.
JOHN W. TURNER, LaGrange, Tennessee, married RACHEL M. BASS, Athens, Ala., in Athens, Feb. 10, 1876.
Dr. JOHN INGRAM died February 8, 1876 in the state insane asylum [in Nashville, Tennessee] captain of company raised in Denmark, Tenn. for the 6th Tenn. Infantry Regiment, CSA, and served later on the staff of General Benjamin F. Cheatham, as adjutant-general; after the war settled in Memphis where he practiced medicine; the yellow fever scourge of '73 broke his mental and physical health. [His tombstone in the Denmark Presbyterian Cemetery reads: Dr. JOHN INGRAM Died Feb. 8, 1876 aged 41 yrs.]
February 15, 1876
The estate of S. M. [Samuel Maurice] WEBB was declared insolvent and Macon Webb appointed executor of his last will/testament and was ordered by the county court to accept and file claims against the estate, January 31, 1876. [Samuel Maurice Webb was born October 11, 1819; moved from North Carolina to Memphis in 1846; died there July 21, 1873. He is buried in lot 195, Fowler section, Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis.]
February 16, 1876
"Nearly three thousand negroes have emigrated from Georgia by way of Alabama since the first of December." [Most of these folk were probably participating in the vast black immigration/exodus from the South to Kansas, a major movement to that state in the 1870s.]
"JOHN MILLER died at his residence near Pendleton, South Carolina, in the early part of last week in the eighty-second year of his age. He was a son of the original John Miller who established the Pendleton MESSENGER and who was said to have been connected with the printing of the celebrated Junius LETTERS."
February 17, 1876
AL CE OLIVIA daughter of C. C. DART died in Memphis, February 16, 1876 aged 14 months an 14 days old.
MARY A. A. ZENT wife of John Zent died in Memphis, February 16, 1876 in her 41st year of age; burial in Elmwood Cemetery. [February 18, 1876 issue noted that Zent was president of the Memphis Board of Aldermen. He remarried, to Clara Robertson, June 26, 1876.]
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[Buried in lot 268, Fowler section, Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis, Mary A. A., wife of John Zent. Born June 17, 1835. Died Feb. 16, 1876.] |
LOUISA BECKETT died on Pigeon Roost Road, Memphis, Feb. 14, 1876 aged 18 years and 2 months old.
February 18, 1876
Bids to be taken on construction of courthouse in Somerville, Fayette Co., Tenn., to be submitted by March 7, 1876. The architectural plans had been drawn by James and Baldwin of Memphis. [The large courthouse built in Somerville in 1876 was considered one of the most elegant courthouses in Tennessee. It burned February 10, 1925; most of the county's public records were saved from this conflagration.]
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February 19, 1876
CALVIN QUACKENBUSH died in Memphis, February 18, 1876 of pneumonia in the 49th year of his age.
CHERRIE FLORENCE KEATING daughter of Lucy and the late James D. Keating of New York died in Jersey City, New Jersey, February 10, 1876 of diptheria, aged 4 years, five months and 13 days.
EDWARD A. O'NEAL, JR. died in Florence, Alabama, February 13, 1876 in the 29th year of his age; a son of General E. A. O'Neal, Sr., with whom he was a law partner in Florence; a Confederate veteran.
JOHN J. FLOURNOY, JR., brother of Mrs. C. J. Selden of Memphis, died at his home in Paducah, Ky., February 14, 1876. [The DAILY AVALANCHE, February 20, 1876, states that Flournoy was aged 32 years and had died "on his way up the Tennessee River."]
February 20, 1876
S. F. THORN of St. Louis, Missouri was to marry EMMA L. SHARON of Carrollton, Illinois on February 29, 1876.
February 22, 1876
G. B. [Booth] MALONE, Memphis, married LAURA A. HUGHEY in LaGrange, Tenn., Feb. 17, 1876.
February 26, 1876
Mr. HUGHES, 252 Second Street in Memphis had prepared a stained-glass window for the Episcopal Church in Winona, Miss., dedicated to JOHN D. and JANE A. HAWKINS; "to the glory of God and in memory of mother and father."
February 29, 1876
Major WILLO HAYWOOD of the Brownsville, Tenn. DEMOCRAT was in Memphis, attending the city's Mardi Gras.
March 1, 1876
Captain GEORGE O. HART married MARIA F. daughter of Capt. J. F. HARRIS in Paducah, Ky., Feb. 21, 1876.
[In the February 20, 1876 issue, "In Memoriam" to ARTHUR TAYLOR WARD son of H. J. and Mary Ward, died in Memphis, Feb. 1, 1876 aged 3 years, 1 month and 21 days old.]
March 2, 1876
WILLIE W., only son of William and Martha ETLEY, died in Memphis, March 1, 1876 aged 1 year, 3 months and 4 days old. [City death records render this name ETTY.]
WILLIAM FARRIS died near Woodstock, Tenn., February 29, 1876 aged 57 years and 10 days; burial in Memphis.
Colonel C. M. McGHEE, vice-president of Memphis and Charleston Railroad, at behest of local residents, changed the name of the station on that railroad to Rossville, for "the thriving little town.
March 3, 1876
Yesterday afternoon deputy constable DOCK JONES and HENRY JORDAN arrested JOE PAYNE, colored, on Madison Street in Memphis, near the bayou bridge and placed him in jail. Payne was arrested on a warrant sworn out at the instance of PINK ROSS, colored, who charged him with having killed an old black man named WILLIAM RUFFIN on Alabama Street near Commerce, in December 1873.
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March 4, 1876
FRANK M. PAUL, a gentleman well and favorably known in Nashville and Memphis, and who had for some time past occupied the position of secretary to the state superintendent of public instruction left here last night to assume the business management of the Knoxville TRIBUNE, the new daily to be established in that city. "Mr. Paul is an experienced and political newspaper man, well up in all the details of a daily journal."
March 5, 1876
"By a decree of the Circuit Court for the county aforesaid in the state aforesaid [Appomattox County, Virginia] in the suit therein of White and wife vs John STRATTON's executor and devisees, I am directed to ascertain whether the defendant, JOHN F. STRATTON, has departed this life and if so, who as his next of kin are entitled to receive about $900 now under the control of the said suit. All persons interested are hereby notified to appear before me on or before the 10th day of March 1876 at my office at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. ...Ch. H. Sackett, Com. in Chancery, App. Circuit Court."
March 7, 1876
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STARVED TO DEATH. Washington Republican, February 29. Yesterday afternoon, Hon. Eli P. Norton died in Providence hospital, after a short illness, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. Mr. Norton was well and favorably known in this city, and his unlooked-for demise cast a gloom over his numerous acquaintance, who, while they knew of his illness, had no expectation of its fatal termination. Mr. Norton was born in the city of Mansfield, Illinois, where he attended school and subsequently studied law, which profession he practiced for s short time in the city of his birth. At an early age he removed to Lexington, Kentucky, and thence after a brief sojourn, to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he at once secured and held a good practice before the numerous courts, and maintained an enviable reputation with his associates at the bar. White in Cincinnati he entered politics as a member of the Whig party, and at its downfall he took an active part in the native American or know-nothing party, and when it in turn died, he joined with the Democrats. About 1866 he removed to the city of New York, and there again took part in the political arena, becoming the Democratic candidate ffor congress from the eighth district, foe which position he was defeated by a small majority. He subsequently removed to this city, and was appointed by President Johnson solicitor of the court of claims which position he held until the expiration of Mr. Johnson's term. Since that time he has been practicing his profession principally before the court of claims and the Mexican claims commission, but latterly he has been unfortunately impoverished. About ten days ago he met a friend in the street, and explained to him his reduced circumstances, and. after leaving him, retired to his room, where be remained for five days without food before he was discovered and taken to the hospital. He was too proud to ask for assistance and thus deliberately chose death by starvation rather than appear as a mendicant. |
March 8, 1876
W. M. WALSH was killed on the Mississippi and Tennessee Railway, about two miles south of Horn Lake, yesterday, after having been put off the train twice for not paying for a ticket; he attempted to ride on a coupling between the tender and freight car; the coupling broke, separated from the engine and Walsh fell on to the tracks and was run over and killed. He had $35 on his person with which he could easily have bought a ticket. He had been working in the vicinity of Grenada, Miss. for some time. Burial in Hernandon, Miss.
March 9, 1876
Captain JOHN DUNNIGER, a faithful soldier of the "Old 154" Regiment, CSA, died of pneumonia in Memphis, March 7, 1876. During the Civil War he rose in the ranks to a captaincy and was placed in charge of the post at Thomasville, Ga.; then on to Atlanta; he had lately been a Memphis fireman; left a widow and several "little" children.
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March 10, 1876
J. W. CONRAD of Memphis was awarded the contract to build the new courthouse in Somerville, Tenn.; his bid was $29,900, exclusive of galvanizing, painting and plumbing which would make the total cost of construction $37,875. [Work began soon on this courthouse.]
March 11, 1876
WILLIAM R. COMSTOCK died at Blackfish Lake, Arkansas, March 8, 1876 in the 54th year of his age; burial in Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis. [Unmarked grave in lot 240, Fowler 4 section]
March 12, 1876
JAMES GRAVES, 15 year old son of the Reverend James R. Graves, editor of THE [TENNESSEE] BAPTIST, accidentally shot himself yesterday "while gunning in the vicinity of the grounds of Captain [Joseph] Lenow"; expected to recover although injured in right hand and wrist.
March 14, 1876
Ed [Edward] WELLS, resident of Memphis, died in his residence on Robeson Street, Memphis, March 12, 1876 [aged 38 years]; burial in Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis. [Burial in unmarked grave, lot 16, Lenow Circle].
March 15, 1876
JAMES RANDALL was stabbed on December 25, 1874 and died as a result on January 7, 1875; supposedly stabbed by Phil Payne.
March 16, 1876
W. S. BRUCE and JOSEPH BRUCK, surviving partners of the firm W. S. Bruce & Co. had purchased the interest of the estate of N. M. Bruce in the firm, formally dissolving the old firm January 1, 1876 and established the new firm name W. C. Bruce & Company.
March 17, 1876
R. W. WILLIAMS, JR had been appointed administrator of the estate of HIRAM TILMAN, dec. and directed persons with claims on the estate to file same with him (Feb. 17 notice).
March 18, 1876
In the Chancery Court of Shelby County, Tennessee: JOHN H. BLACKWELL vs G. M. BARTLETT and Others; it appearing to the Court that John H. Blackwell was a non-resident of Tennessee, and he was notified through notice in the newspaper to appear in the Shelby County court to answer the cross-bill of M. J. PRUDEN, executrix of R. A. Pruden, dec., by the first Monday in April 1876. By order of Edmund A. Cole, Clerk and Master. [Blackwell, resident of Texas, was suing for monies from his former guardian, G. M. Bartlett]
Judging from the coverage of the game of baseball in the newspaper, this sport had many fans among the males of the area; one example:
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-The new base-ball club lately organized and styled the Memphis club, yesterday played a. match with a picked nine, from the Riversides and Eckfords, at the Olympic park, out on the Louisville railway, about a mile from town with the following result: Memphis club, thirty-four; Picked nine, one. We are informed that the Memphis club will engage the Louisville club at the same park on Tuesday and Wednesday, the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth of the present month, when Memphians will be treated to a fine exhibition of baseball sport. The Memphis club has been organized about a month, an judging by their performance yesterday, we are forced to the opinion that they will make a reputation this summer. The club has not yet received its adopted uniform but will be thoroughly uniformed and equipped within the next week or so. |
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The Memphis PUBLIC LEDGER, April 25, 1876 reflected:
There is not an open space of ground in the suburbs [of Memphis] that is not occupied by the omnipresent baseballers every Sunday. There are at least one hundred clubs, blacks and whites and composed of childhood, youth and manhood in this city at present. . . . [It] has become a healthy epidemic as [far as] exercise is concerned.
March 19, 1876
CHARLES L. McLEFRESH married KATE FORD, both of Memphis, February 15, 1876.
Judge ISAAC SARMON, living in Illinois, formerly of Olin, Tenn., died March 13, 1876.
March 21, 1876
ANDREW DAVIS died 6 miles north of Memphis on the Big Creek plank road, March 19, 1876. [His tombstone, Calvary Cemetery, Memphis: ANDREW DAVIS Born 1843 in Co. Roscommon, Ireland Died March 19, 1876]
BEN BLOOMENSTEIN, a Polish Jew, about 35 years old, having lived in Memphis for the past five years, coming there from New Orleans, an industrious peddler, was stabbed in his neck with a broad-blade knife welded by BOB WHEELER at 144 Beale Street, last evening, from which injury Bloomenstein died; an altercation over 5¢. Wheeler, a boot-black, thought that the deceased owed him for polishing his shoes. [In the April 1, 1876 issue, Wheeler was given as a black man, about 5'8" tall, with a scar on his upper lip; aged about 28 years old. Wheeler was eventually sentenced to twenty years in the state penitentiary.]
March 23, 1876
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New York, March 15. It is not often that I contribute to your journal [DAILY APPEAL] anything pertaining to the so-called affairs of private persons but I have an exceptional instance, in the elegant silver wedding celebration of Mrs. Henrietta Hackes Stix and Mr. Louis Stix, which was one of the handsomest ever given in this city. Mr. Louis Stix is one of the prominent merchants of Cincinnati where his first (Louis Stix & Go.) is well and favorably known as one of the most solid, reliable and enterprising in the Union. He is a brother of William Stix of the firm of Rice, Stix & Co. of Memphis and was, during the minority of the Menken brothers, the administrator of their father's estate. It is then of the SILVER WEDDING that I would speak and through the medium of the APPEAL make it known to the public and the friends of this most estimable gentleman and lady. I reached the residence of Mr. Stix at five o'clock in the afternoon of the eleventh instant and in a few minutes over eighty persons had assembled. The entrance to the mansion was covered with a canopy of evergreens and as the guests entered they were greeted with welcome by the happy groom who appeared in full evening dress. At the head of the reception room, surrounded by a bevy of beautifully costumed ladies, sat the fair bride, dressed in elegant black velvet, profusely trimmed with lace. [Then follows an account of the many presents given to the Stixes, one of which] was that of the Menken Bros. who felt that they could not do too much to show their love and respect for their father's friend and a couple who had been to them as father and mother. This consisted of a full dinner service of solid silver, which, displayed to advantage in the center of the front drawing-room, shone with splendor amid so much that was really beautiful and appropriate. [Then followed the entertainment, champagne "popping", and a formal "address" of appreciation by J. S. Menken, a bountiful dinner and musical entertainment thereafter.] Biographical sketch. LOUIS STIX was born in Demmelsdorf, Bavaria [Germany]. He came to this country about 1810 and first embarked in business in Billingsville, Indiana. He then moved to Mason, Ohio and afterward opened a retail dry goods store in Cincinnati and by his integrity, industry and business tact soon worked himself up until he became one of the leading wholesale dry goods merchants of that city, doing business in his own building, corner of Third and Hace streets, which is an ornament to that magnificent business street. Shortly after he was settled in Cincinnati, he brought on his parents and younger brothers. The latter rank among the prominent merchants of the country. At one period of his career, through the fault of his partner, he was obliged to compromise with his creditors at about fifty cents on the dollar and some years later he voluntarily paid the compromised amount with interest which had accumulated to about eighty-five per cent, thus setting an example which will cause his name to go down to posterity as the true type of mercantile nobility - a greater patent than monarchs can bestow. His charities are unbounded. Though an Israelite [Jewish], the Bible society has his name among its regular contributors and the colored man has found him a friend in need - showing a desire to divide his bounty irrespective of creed or nationality. His history is the record of a self-made man and well worthy of emulation by the rising generation. |
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The MENKEN participants in this anniversary celebration were JULES A., NATHAN D. and JACOB STANWOOD MENKEN, sons of Solomon Menken, native of Holland and a Cincinnati, Ohio merchant. J. S. Menken established a small Memphis dry-goods business in 1863; joined by his brothers two years later, the Menken Brothers firm became a flourishing mercantile business. Jacob S. Menken eventually became the sole owner of the firm and became well- known for his charitable activities. [See, "J. S. Menken, " THE NATIONAL CYCLOPAEDIA OF AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, New York, volume 8, 1898, pages 294-295.]
"Chief Athy desires information of one THOMAS RIGBY, an Englishman by birth and a mechanical engineer by profession, who came to Memphis in the fall of 1867 from Pennsylvania. He was twenty years old at that time. " [Philip R. Athy]
March 24, 1876
The funeral of Mrs. L. D. GRANT to be held today.
Mrs. CORA F. WIDRIG wife of C. M. Widrig died in her Memphis residence, ostensibly March 23, 1876 aged 43 years.
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DEATH OF JUDGE NICHOLSON His Life and Public Services-Full of NASHVILLE, March 24.-A Columbia special to the American announces the death of Chief-Justice A. O. P. Nicoholson. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. Alfred Osbern Pope Nicholson, an American journalist and senator, was born in Williamson county, Tennessee, August 21, 1806. In 1827 he was graduated from the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill, and commenced the study of medicine but he abandoned that profession for the law, and obtained license to practice in 1831. In 1832 he became editor at the Western Mercury, a Democratic newspaper published at Columbia, Tennessee, which he conducted for three years. He was elected to the legislature of Tennessee in 1833, 1885 and 1837, and in 1839 he was nominated for congress, but declined the nomination. He served as candidate for Presidential elector in 1840 on the Democratic ticket. In December, 1840, he was appointed by Governor Polk as United States senator, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the death of Felix Grundy, and served for two sessions, one of which was the extra session of 1841. In 1843 he was elected to the State senate, and the next year took an active part In the Presidential canvass in favor of Mr. Polk. In December, 1844, be removed from Columbia to Nashville, and took charge of the Nashville Union. At the meeting of the legislature in October, 1846, he was nominated for United States senator, but defeated. In 1848 he retired from the editorship of the Union, and was president of the Bank of Tennessee from 1846 to 1848. He was a member of the southern convention which met at Nashville in 181850, and delivered in that body an elaborate speech in favor of the compromise measures then before congress. In 1851 he was appointed by the governor to the office of chancellor for the middle district of Tennessee, to fill a vacancy. This post he held until the meeting of the legislature in October, 1851, when he refused to be a candidate for election. He was a member of the Democratic national convention of 1852, and a candidate for Presidential elector for the State at large on the Pierce and King ticket. Upon the accession of General Pierce to the Presidency Mr. Nicholson was offered an appointment in the cabinet, but declined the position, and was editor of the Washington Union during President Pierce's administration. In October 1857, he was elected to the United States senate for a full term commencing March 4, 1859, and served until the State seceded, when he resigned and returned home. Since the was his only public employment was as chief-justice to which office he was elected after the adoption of the constitution of 1870. His death reduces the number of supreme court judges from six to five, and in accordance with the constitutional provision, prevents the court from hereafter sitting in two sections. |
The March 25, 1876 issue carried resolutions of respect for Judge Nicholson by the Circuit and Criminal Courts of Shelby County, the former lauding his "irreproachable character", the latter calling him "scholar, gentleman and jurist."
The Memphis Bar was to meet on the morning of Saturday, March 25, 1876 "to pay due respect to the memory of Hon. A. O. P. Nicholson. "
Judge Nicholson was buried in Columbia, Tennessee.
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March 25, 1876
LAWRENCE A. COONEY son of Michael and Bridget Cooney, aged 17 years, died March 24, 1876; funeral to be held tomorrow at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Memphis.
March 26, 1876
JOHN DONLON, JR. son of John Donlon, Memphis, died in Louisville, Ky., March 25, 1876 in the third year of his age. [Spelled Donlan in the city directory]
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Small Fruits Versus Cotton In West Tennessee. Milan Exchange: The fact that several enterprising citizens from other towns and from Illinois have recently come to Milan to engage in the culture of the small fruits, has caused no little improvement among our people. We have several times called the attention of our citizens to the growing demand for the small fruits in the northern cities, and have tried to impress it upon them that, with our excellent soil and climate, they could make the strawberry and raspberry a paying crop. One of our citizens has demonstrated this to them. The paying crop is the one that reaches the market first, and we can exhaust our crop of berries here before the northern gardener's crop would begin to ripen. Our soil is the natural home of the strawberry and the grape. Our old citizens can remember when all the country for miles around Milan was one continuous strawberry patch, the fruit ripening and growing from year to year on the prairie, or barrens as they were called. We have a mine of gold that only needs enterprise and labor to equal any mine in California. All that is needed is for some of our citizens to commence. It will exceed the profits of cotton raising tenfold. The only fear is that strangers way come in, and by getting the best land, reap the substantial rewards before our citizens realize the fact. We want to see who will quit cotton to raise strawberries first. |
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A Disciple of Hahnemann PHILADELPHIA TIMES, 23rd CONSTANTINE HERING, M.D., the most widely known representative of the practice of homeopathy in the country and probably in the world, was tendered a complimentary banquet at the Union League club-house last evening by his numerous personal and professional friends desirous of celebrating the termination of the fiftieth year of his professional life. Additional commemorative exercises will take place today. Dr. Hering was born in Aschaiz, Saxony, January 1, 1800. His classical education he received at Zittan. He subsequently began the study of medicine and surgery at the Dresden academy, completing his course at the University of Leipzig. It was here that he became a convert to homeopathy, partly owing to its efficacy in his own case and partly from a thorough examination of the system. His studies in this line were completed at Wurzburg where he received his degree March 22, 1823. He then was appointed teacher of mathematics and natural sciences in a Dresden academy and subsequently proceeded to Surinam, S.A., to make scientific researches under governmental auspices. After resigning this office he began the practice of medicine. His extensive and valuable zoological and botanical collection was presented to the academy of natural sciences in this city, he being elected a corresponding member of that body. In January, 1833 he came to Philadelphia, where he has since resided, except when engaged in an unsuccessful attempt to inaugurate a school of homeopathy at Allentown. He participated in the effort by which the Hahnemann medical college of Philadelphia was established and was for many years professor of institutes and materia medica in that institution. He is a very voluminous writer, his RISE AND PROGRESS OF HOMEOPATHY having been translated into English, Dutch and Swedish. His DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN had a circulation of one hundred thousand in Europe and America and has been translated into French, Italian and Spanish. He is still actively engaged in the duties of his profession. |
[Dr. Hering died July 23, 1880.]
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March 28, 1876
Mrs. HARRIETT NUETZEL died at her Memphis residence, March 27, 1876 aged 57 years. [Burial in lot 7, Fowler section, Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis]
March 29, 1876
JAMES K. LYTLE died in San Antonio, Texas, March 27, 1876 in the 25th year of his age. [See, memorial to him, April 2, 1876 issue.I
O. H. PECK married GUSSIE daughter of Emmet MIX, dec., Memphis, in Denver, Colorado, March 23, 1876.
March 30, 1876
THOMAS EMERSON died in Memphis, March 29, 1876, aged 29 years.
HARRY SEESEL, JR., Memphis, married SALLIE CUTHELL, New York, in New York, March 29, 1876. [The Seessels were an immigrant Bavarian family]
Members of the GRUETLI SOCIETY were requested to attend the Memphis funeral of SERAFINO GUSCIO today. [City death records show Guscio to have been Swiss in origin.]
CHARLES DALL, a German butcher residing in Cincinnati, Ohio, committed suicide by hanging, March 29, 1876. "He had been on a spree for a week."
March 31, 1876
In the Somerville, Tennessee FALCON, March 30, 1876, "Mr. Mark A. Stewart, a prominent and useful citizen of this county [Fayette County] died of pneumonia on Monday the twentieth instant [March 20]. His remains passed through Somerville Tuesday, enroute for Newcastle where he will be buried. [Mark A. Stewart is buried in Bethany Cemetery south of Whiteville, Tenn., with a tombstone bearing his birth and death dates: June 3, 1831 and Mar. 27, 1876. The Monday involved was March 27 not March 20.]
We are pained to announce the death of Mr. A. D. STAINBACK which occurred at his residence at Stanton Depot on the morning of the twentieth instant [March 20]. About two years ago he removed to Stanton, up to which time he had been one of the best citizens of Fayette. . . .
[ASHLEY DAVIS STAINBACK, born Oct. 13, 1816, "a son of Peter Stainback and Lucy Davis immigrated to Fayette County from Lunenburg Co., Virginia about 1837. He and wife Catharine Palmer settled seven miles north of Somerville, was a farmer and served for a time as postmaster for that area. "(THE HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, TENNESEE, Fayette County Historical Society, 1986, page 206) Stainback, the postal records reveal, was postmaster at Laurel Hill, June 1849-March 1850; April-July 1858.]
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