Among the well-known and substantial business men of Troy, Obion County, Benjamin H. Settle occupies a prominent position as a dealer in dressed lumber and building materials of all kinds. He was born in North Carolina, August 11, 1849, and is a son of Benjamin and Sarah (Campbell) Settle, both natives of that state. The mother was of Scotch extraction and was a great-granddaughter of one of the Dukes of Argyle. In 1855 Benjamin Settle removed with his family to Tennessee and settled in Fayette County, where he purchased eight hundred acres of land and engaged in agricultural pursuits upon a large scale for that period. He was also interested in real estate operations and in the slave trade, becoming in time one of the wealthiest men in the county. When the Civil War began he remained loyal to the government of the North, though he was opposed to the war. His attitude incurred the enmity of some of the southern sympathizers, and on January 20, 1864 he was killed by a party of Confederate guerrillas. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, five of whom are now living, Benjamin H. being the second child in the order of birth and the only son. Although not yet fifteen years of age at the time of his father’s untimely death, he bravely took up the work of assisting his widowed mother in the support of her family. Under her direction and guidance he practically assumed the management of the estate, making ample provision for the family needs and selling considerable produce to the neighbors and in the adjacent towns. Thus his boyhood and youth were passed in Fayette County, where he managed to secure in the common schools a good practical education. In 1890 he became interested in the Ekdahl Furniture Company, for which he traveled over a broad territory. When the company failed, sometime afterward, he took charge of the settlement of its affairs. While thus engaged he acquired a knowledge of the lumber business that led to his engaging in that line of activity in 1893. For several years he was both dealer in and inspector of lumber, and during this time he learned all the details pertaining to the manufacture and sale of building materials. In 1902 he located in Troy, where he opened his lumber yard two years later. His yards, including the space occupied by his dwelling, covers four acres of ground, upon which there are two small cottages that he rents. His past experience gave him an advantage in opening his new business in Troy, and his success was assured from the start. During the eight years that he has been thus engaged he has made money and gained a reputation as a square dealer in the materials he handles. He is public-spirited and takes a keen interest in everything that has a tendency to benefit the town.
Mr. Settle has been twice married. In 1873 he married Miss Mattie Pickens, and to this union were born five children, three of whom are still living. They are John C., a well-to-do business man of San Francisco, California; Thomas B. is traffic manager of E. Clemmons Horst Company of San Francisco, California; and Hugh L. of Memphis, Tennessee. All three of these sons are above the average type of business men in executive ability and resourcefulness. Mrs. Mattie Settle died in 1892, and subsequently Mr. Settle married Mrs. Sallie Weddington. No children have been born to this second marriage.
The Settle family is well connected and has furnished at least one man who has been recognized in the political and legal circles. Thomas Settle, a second cousin of the subject of this review, was chairman of the Republican national convention that nominated General Ulysses S. Grant for the presidency. He was a prominent attorney of North Carolina and served for some time as United States minister to Peru. Upon his return to this country he was appointed federal judge for the district of Florida and took up his residence at Tallahassee, where he passed the closing years of his life. Benjamin H. Settle is a Democrat. Both his wives were Cumberland Presbyterians and he is a Methodist.
