J. M. Cantrell, son of D. H. and A. L. (Gillespie) Cantrell, was born in Sumner County, Tenn., in 1837, and is a farmer and stock raiser by occupation. His father, who was of Irish descent, and a farmer by occupation, was born in Sumner County in 1801, and died in 1884. His mother was also born in Sumner County, about 1810, and died in April, 1886. Our subject received a fair education in the common schools, and assisted his father on the farm until twenty-five years of age. He enlisted in the army, and after the cessation of hostilities returned to his native county and worked on his father's farm for about a year. He was married in 1866 to Miss Cattie Milan, daughter of Andrew and T. Milan. She was born about 1842 in Sumner County, and her marriage resulted in the birth of four children: James M. (a merchant in Knoxville, Tenn.), Alice M. (attending school in Edgefield, Tenn.), Myra C. and Kittie C. Mr. Cantrell enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private in Company D, First Tennessee Cavalry, and participated in the battle of Shiloh. He has always been a Democrat in politics and is a member of the Masonic order. He, his wife, and daughter Alice are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.