City: Tiptonville
DONALDSON, Laughlan, Sr., lawyer and banker (retired); born Hickman, Fulton Co., Ky., Jan. 4, 1844; Scotch-Welsh descent; son of Willington and Elizabeth (Merriwether) DONALDSON; father, farmer; paternal grandparents Lauchlan and Sophia (Gilbert) DONALDSON, maternal grandparents Richard T. and Elizabeth (Rivers) MERRIWETHER; educated in private schools of Obion Co., Tenn., and attended Wesleyan University of Florence, Ala., April, 1862; enlisted as private in Co. A, 12th Ky. Cavalry, C. S. A., later promoted to Lieut. Co. K, 12th Ky. Cavalry, Lyon’s Brigade, and Buford’s division of Forrest Cavalry three years; fought in three day’s battle at Okolona and West Point, Miss., and battle at Paducah, Ky., Brice’s X Roads, Miss., wounded at latter; also fought at Athens, Ala., Sulphur Trestle, Ala., Pulaski, Tenn., and others; captured at Verona, Miss., 1864, and imprisoned at Johnson’s Island to end of war; married Mary NALL, Dec. 23, 1873; Democrat (regular); former Mayor of Tiptonville four years immediately after organization of that town, and was one of the commissioners appointed to organized /sic/ Lake Co., Tenn., 1870, also to fix boundary between Lake and Obion counties 1899; Justice of the Peace of Lake Co., Tenn.; vice-president Farmers’ & Merchants’ Bank, Tiptonville, Tenn.
Source: Who’s Who in Tennessee: A Biographical Reference Book of Notable Tennesseans of To-Day. Memphis: Paul & Douglas Co, 1911.
