DEATH NOTICES FROM THE WESTERN WEEKLY REVIEW,
FRANKLIN, TENNESSEE 1841-1851
Abstracted by Jonathan Kennon Thompson Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 2004(Page 69)
MISCELLANEA
January 15, 1841
MARSHALL P. EDWARDS, originally from Massachusetts, a blacksmith living near Somerville, Tenn., cut his own throat, Dec. 25, 1840 and died.
April 2, 1841
PETER HELMES, aged 14 years, married JANE WALLACE, aged 13 years, in Burke Co., N.C., Mar. 6, 1841.
May 7, 1841
"The first strawberries of the season have been presented to us [REVIEW personnel] by our friend JNO. THOMPSON, Esq. of this county."
July 9, 1841
JAMES M. MITCHELL was convicted of murdering COLIN BISHOP and was hanged in Moulton, Ala., June 25, 1841.
September 10, 1841
Colonel J. W. M. BRAZEALE, McMinn Co., Tenn. has a new book published in Knoxville, LIFE AS IT IS OR MATTERS AND THINGS IN GENERAL. "He is the first native Tennessean who has ventured to present a literary production to the world."
October 15, 1841
Captain JOHN P. SMITHSON, Williamson Co., Tenn. married CLARISSA W. PETTUS in Charlotte Co., Virginia, Sept. 8, 1841.
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November 10, 1841
The daughter [unnamed] of SHADRACH LEWIS, near Paris, Tenn., committed suicide by hanging herself, Nov. 7, 1841.
December 3, 1841
A slave named HARRY, about 25 years old and a female slave named COLY, aged about 15 years, belonging to the estate of Moses E. Farmer, dec. would be sold in Franklin, Dec. 6, 1841.
JAMES FRANKLIN SIMS son of John P. Sims, Green Co., Va., 15 years old on Dec. 15, 1840, weighed 231 pounds and was upwards of 6'1" tall.
March 4, 1842
The dwelling and outhouses of JOHN W. McALPIN, on Little Harpeth River, were completely destroyed by fire recently and the stables of Mrs. BETHENIA HARDEMAN on the bluff opposite Franklin, Tenn. were burned Feb. 28, 1842.
April 1, 1842
On Sunday night, March 20, 1842, six prisoners escaped from the Somerville, Tenn. jail by cutting two rivets that fastened the cast iron cage in which they were kept. They were THOMAS BRAGG, SR. and JR.; ROBERT BRAGG; JOHN B. COX; THOMAS ROMINES and WILLIAM HILL.
May 20, 1842
MARY, wife of Joseph HUNTER, dec., living a few miles from Sparta, Tenn. "was shot dead while sitting by her fireside" on May 11, 1842. [According to the May 27, 1842 issue, ARCHIBALD KIRBY was charged with her murder and would go to trial in White County circuit court in June.]
July 22, 1842
The graduates of the Columbia, Tenn. Female Institute in mid-July were ANNA G. HARDEMAN, A. REBECCA HARRELL, SARAH E. LUNDY, ROSETTA MINTER, EMILY G. WEBSTER, SELINA P. WHEAT and JULIA M. WILLIAMSON.
August 12, 1842
Miss MALVINA HELM, sister of the Hon. John L. Helm, committed suicide by overdosing on laudanum on a recent Saturday night.
September 9, 1842
THOMAS STUART offered for sale his homeplace as he was moving to Missouri, 268 acres on the Big Harpeth River, 2 miles north of Franklin, Tenn., with dwelling, outhouses and a 21 acre orchard; sufficient springs.
October 14, 1842
A rather saccharine poem "To Adeline in Heaven," written by the Rev. E. H. HATCHER, was penned in memory of ADELINE B. IRWIN daughter of the Rev. H. F. and Sarah G. Beaumont and wife of Captain Joseph M. Irwin, who died July 15, 1842 aged 20 years, 8 months and 15 days [born Aug. 15, 1821].
Colonel BURCHETT DOUGLASS, able state representative from Fayette Co., Tenn., recently resigned his office because of "a serious disease of the [his] eyes." [Major Erastus T. Collins was elected to take his place.]
January 6, 1843
NORRIS WILLIAMS, Madison Co., Tenn., was killed recently near Raleigh, Tenn., "by falling from the tongue of a wagon loaded with cotton, the wheels passing over the back of his neck, causing instant death."
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February 3, 1843
REUBEN MORGAN was rifle-shot and killed by Henry Morris near Pleasant Exchange, Henderson Co., Tenn., Jan. 5, 1843 for which Morris was jailed.
March 10, 1843
The GENEVA ACADEMY, Carthage, Tenn., was destroyed by fire, March 2, 1843.
March 24, 1843
A Mr. HILL murdered his brother-in-law, Mr. HOWELL, with an axe, at Terrell's still-house about four miles from Dresden, Tenn., Mar. 10, 1843. "Both were drunk."
June 2, 1843
JOHN W. WILLIAMS was the barber in Franklin, Tenn.
October 2, 1843
In the mercantile firm of JOSEPH W. BAUGH and JOHN H. OTEY, Franklin, Tenn., Baugh purchased his partner's interest, Sept. 25, 1843 and would run the business henceforth [with a new partner].
December 1, 1843
McCOY W. CAMPBELL of Maury Co., Tenn. boarded the steamboat, Ben Franklin, at Wheeling, Virginia for Maysville, Ky., and on Nov. 19, 1843, before reaching Maysville, Campbell requested Capt. J. B. Summers to let him take a small boat rather than the yawl from the steamboat to the dock. The captain refused and in lining up the steamboat ready to send Campbell ashore, another boat struck the Ben Franklin, in such a manner that Campbell was crushed and killed. He had been a middle-aged man.
August 2, 1844
A Whig Party military company, the Jones Highlanders, was organized in the sixteenth civil district of Williamson Co., Tenn., July 27, 1844, with officers: Colonel W. H. S. HILL, captain; Major J. H. STILL, first Lt.; JESSE MORRIS, 2nd Lt.; JO. J. TAYLOR, ensign; 50 members. Their motto, "Lay on Nancy."
December 6, 1844
The trustees of Harpeth Academy had employed JAMES M. COLTART, a graduate of University of Nashville, to take charge of this school, with classes beginning Nov. 18, 1844.
February 6, 1845
Colonel ROBERT WHEATLEY who had settled in Nashville, Tenn. "before the forest was subdued, or the first house had been erected" there, died Feb. 3, 1845 aged 82 years.
January 9, 1846
NATHAN CRETCHER, 400 lbs. married DIDAMA WILKISON, 200 lbs., in Champaign Co., Ohio, Dec. 20, 1845.
May 28, 1847
The residence of Mrs. EMILY COX on the main stage road, a few miles west of Knoxville, Tenn. was destroyed by fire, May 7, 1847.
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June 30, 1848
Captain GABRIEL ARMSTRONG, in Colonel Hays' Texas Rangers, reprimanded his brother, Lt. TUCKER ARMSTRONG for a breech of military duty whereupon irate Tucker shot and killed his brother near Vera Cruz, Mexico.
A runaway slave, SOLOMON, of ordinary height, "tolerably heavy built," marked by smallpox, about 35/40 years old, is in the jail in Franklin, Tenn. He said he belonged to Thomas Thomasson of Morgan Co., Ala.
April 20, 1848
RICHARD DILLINGHAM, a Quaker teacher of a respectable family, had attempted to take three slaves from Davidson Co., Tenn. to a free state, was caught in Dec. 1847, tried and sentenced to three years in the state penitentiary.
August 17, 1849
A large revival had been held in the Rock Springs Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 3 1/2 miles from Franklin, on the Nashville turnpike, last week and the week previously; it was reported that numerous persons "professed to find hope in Jesus."
April 26, 1850
The dwelling of JOSEPH CLARKE, Lincoln Co., Tenn. burned April 13, 1850.
March 7, 1851
R. M. DODGE, a daguerreotypist had been making pictures of local people in Franklin, Tenn. for several weeks; he left town on the stage, Feb. 27, 1851 and soon after reaching Nashville, Tenn. he died of cholera, Feb. 28, 1851.
October 10, 1851
ROBERT H. PEYTON, brother of the prominent Whig politician, [Balie] Peyton, got into an argument in Gallatin, Tenn., on Oct. 7, 1851, with JOHN McELWRATH over "their right" to a buggy in the latter's yard. Peyton struck McElwrath with his cane whereupon the latter stabbed Peyton to the heart, killing him instantly. [All that appears on page 523 of the Rev. Horace E. Hayden's VIRGINIA GENEALOGIES (reprinted Washington, D.C., 1931), concerning ROBERT HOLMES PEYTON, son of John Peyton and brother of Balie Peyton, is that he was born May 10, 1792; died single and was wounded in the Seminole War, Florida.].
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