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Resources
for the Upper New River Valley of North Carolina and Virginia
Sherwood Anderson
Rev. Thomas Beals, Quaker
Minister
Luther Davis, Galax, Virginia
Colonel Alfred C. Moore, C.S.A., Wythe County,
Va.
Jo Mitchell submitted the following Biographical Sketches to the North Carolina - New River Mailing List. Thanks.
Biographical Sketches
ARNELL, Samuel Mayes
BOWER, William Horton
BROWNLOW, Walter Preston
BLACKBURN, Edmond Spencer
BUTLER, Roderick Randum
CARTER, Samuel Powhatan
CARTER, William Blount
COWLES, Charles Holden
COWLES, William Henry Harrison
HACKETT, Richard Nathaniel
JOHNSON, Andrew
JOHNSON, Eliza McCardle
LENOIR, William
McNEILL, Milton
MERCER, Jesse
MITCHELL, Anderson
NELSON, Thomas Amos Rogers
PHILLIPS, Dayton Edward
REECE, Brazilia Carroll
SELLS, Sam Riley
STOKES, Montford
TAYLOR, Alfred Alexander
TAYLOR, Nathaniel Green
TAYLOR, Robert Love
YORK, Tyre
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949;
Biographies, p.854
BLACKBURN, Edmond Spencer, a
Representative from North Carolina; born near Boone, Watauga
County, N.C., September 22, 1868; attended the common schools and
academies of his native State; studied law; was admitted to the
bar in 1890 and commenced practice in Jefferson, Ashe County,
N.C.; reading clerk of the State senate in 1894 and 1895; member
of the State house of representatives in 1896 and 1897, serving
as speaker pro tempore the latter year; assistant United States
attorney in 1898; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-seventh
Congress (March 4, 1901-March 3, 1903); unsuccessful candidate
for reelection in 1902 to the Fifty-eighth Congress; elected to
the Fifty-ninth Congress (March 4, 1905-March 3, 1907); was not a
candidate for renomination in 1906; resumed the practice of law
in Greensboro, N.C.; died in Elizabethton, Carter County, Tenn.,
March 10, 1912; interment in Old Hopewell Cemetery, near Boone,
N.C.
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949;
Biographies, p.790
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949;
Biographies, p.904
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949;
Biographies, p.928
BUTLER, Roderick Randum
(grandfather of Robert Reyburn Butler), a Representative from
Tennessee; born in Wytheville, Va., April 9, 1827; bound as an
apprentice and learned the tailor's trade; moved to Taylorsville
(now Mountain City), Tenn.; attended night school; studied law;
was admitted to the bar in 1853 and commenced practice in
Taylorsville, Tenn.; appointed postmaster of Taylorsville by
President Fillmore; major of the First Battalion of Tennessee
Militia; member of the State senate 1859-1863; during the Civil
War served in the Union Army as lieutenant colonel of the
Thirteenth Regiment, Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry, from November
5, 1863, until April 25, 1864, when he was honorably discharged;
delegate to the Republican National Convention at Baltimore in
1864; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1865;
county judge and judge of the first judicial circuit of Tennessee
in 1865; chairman of the first State Republican executive
committee of Tennessee; delegate to the Baltimore Border State
Convention; elected as a Republican to the Fortieth and to the
three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1867-March 3, 1875);
unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1874 to the Forty-fourth
Congress; president of the Republican State conventions in 1869
and 1882; delegate to the Republican National Convention at,
Philadelphia in 1872 and at Cincinnati in 1876; member of the
State house of representatives 1879-1885; elected to the Fiftieth
Congress (March 4, 1887-March 3, 1889); was not a candidate for
renomination in 1888; resumed the practice of law; again a member
of the State senate 1893-1901: died in Mountain City, Johnson
County, Tenn., August 18, 1902; interment in Mountain View
Cemetery.
The 20th Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans,
Vol.6, p.400
LENOIR, William, soldier, was
born in Brunswick county, Va., May 20, 1751. His parents, of
French-Huguenot descent, removed in 1759 to Edgecombe county,
N.C., where he received a limited education and was married in
1770 to Ann Ballard of Halifax county, N.C. He removed to near
Wilkesboro, then in Surry county, in 1775; became a member of the
council of safety for that county, and served as lieutenant under
Capt. Benjamin Cleveland in the expeditions of General Rutherford
against the Cherokee Indians. He engaged in suppressing the
Tories; and served as captain of the North Carolina Rangers under
Colonel Cleveland in the battle of King's Mountain, Oct. 7, 1780,
where he was wounded. He took part in the engagement that
resulted in the defeat of Colonel Pyle near the Haw river, where
his horse was shot under him, and later he raised a company and
marched toward the Dan river, with the expectation of joining
General Greene's army, but did not succeed. He passed through the
various grades in the state militia, serving as major-general,
1821-39. He was register, surveyor, commissioner of affidavits,
chairman of the county court, and clerk of the superior court of
Wilkes county. He was a justice of the peace; a member of the
house of commons of the North Carolina legislature for several
years, state senator, 1781-95, and president of the senate for
five years; a member of the council of state and president of its
board, and a member of both the state conventions which met for
the purpose of considering the constitution of the United States,
where he insisted on the adoption of the proposed amendments. He
was a trustee of the University of North Carolina, 1789-1804, and
president of the board, 1790-92. Lenoir and Lenoir county, N.C.,
were named for him. He died at Fort Defiance, Wilkes county,
N.C., May 6, 1839.
Thomas William Herringshaw, Encyclopedia of
American Biography, p.646
McNEILL, Milton, clergyman,
state senator, was born Jan. 8, 1846, in Wilkes county, N. C. He
is a successful clergyman of the baptist church at Wilkesboro, N.
C.; and in 1896 was elected a member of the North Carolina state
senate.
Thomas William Herringshaw, Encyclopedia of American Biography,
p.895
STOKES, Montford, governor,
United States senator, was born in 1760 in Wilkes county, N. C.
He was elected to the United States senate, which honor he
declined; and in 1816 was again elected United States senator,
and served until 1823. In 1826 he went into the general assembly
of North Carolina as senator; and in 1829 was elected a member of
the commons. In 1830 he was again elected to the commons, and in
the same year was elected governor of the state.
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949;
Biographies, p.873
BOWER, William Horton, a
Representative from North Carolina; born near Wilkesboro, Wilkes
County, N.C., June 6, 1850; attended the Finley High School at
Lenoir, N.C.; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1870 and
commenced practice in Lenoir; moved to California in 1876 and
taught school there four years; returned to Lenoir, N.C., in
1881; member of the State house of representatives in 1882;
served in the State senate in 1884; solicitor of the tenth
judicial district of North Carolina in 1885 and 1886;
unsuccessful candidate for Congress in 1890; elected as a
Democrat to the Fifty-third Congress (March 4, 1893-March 3,
1895); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1894 to the
Fifty-fourth Congress; resumed the practice of law in Lenoir,
Caldwell County, N.C., and died there May 11, 1910; interment in
Elkville Cemetery, Caldwell County, N.C.
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949;
Biographies, p.1024
COWLES, Charles Holden (nephew
of William Henry Harrison Cowles), a Representative from North
Carolina; born in Charlotte, N.C., July 16, 1875; moved with his
parents to Wilkesboro, Wilkes County, December 26, 1885; attended
Charlotte graded school, private schools, Wilkesboro Academy, and
completed a commercial college course; member of the board of
aldermen of Wilkesboro in 1897 and again in 1914; deputy clerk of
the United States Court at Statesville and Charlotte 1899-1901;
private secretary to Representative Edmond S. Blackburn
1901-1903; member of the State house of representatives
1904-1908, 1920-1924, 1928-1930, and 1932-1934; delegate to the
Republican National Conventions in 1904, [p.1025] 1908, 1912, and
1916; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-first Congress (March
4, 1909-March 3, 1911); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in
1910 to the Sixty-second Congress; nominated in 1916 by the
Roosevelt or Progressive Republicans for the United States Senate
but declined the nomination; established and published the Wilkes
Patriot, Wilkesboro, N.C., 1906-1919; during the First World War
served as a member of the Wilkes County Council of Defense; was a
member of the State senate 1938-1940; during World War II served
as chairman of War Price and Rationing Board No. I for Wilkes
County from January 7, 1942, to September 15, 1945, when he
resigned; appointed deputy clerk of the United States Court in
Wilkesboro on April 1, 1941, in which capacity he is now serving;
is a resident of Wilkesboro, N.C.
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949;
Biographies, p.1025
COWLES, William Henry Harrison
(uncle of Charles Holden Cowles), a Representative from North
Carolina; born in Hamptonville, Yadkin County, N.C., April 22,
1840; attended the common schools and academies of his native
county; during the Civil War entered the Confederate service as a
private in Company A, First North Carolina Cavalry, and served
from the spring of 1861 to the close of the war with the Army of
Northern Virginia, holding successively the ranks of captain,
major, and lieutenant colonel of his regiment; twice wounded
severely; entered upon the study of law in Richmond Hill, Yadkin
County, in 1866; obtained a county court license in January 1867
and a superior court license in January 1868; moved to
Wilkesboro, Wilkes County, where he commenced the practice of
law; reading clerk of the State senate of North Carolina
1872-1874; elected solicitor of the tenth judicial district in
1874 and served for four years; member of the Democratic State
executive committee for eight years; elected as a Democrat to the
Forty-ninth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4,
1885-March 3, 1893); was not a candidate for renomination in
1892; engaged in agricultural pursuits and also interested in
other business activities; died in Wilkesboro, N.C., December 30,
1901; interment in Presbyterian Cemetery.
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949;
Biographies, p.1246
HACKETT, Richard Nathaniel, a
Representative from North Carolina; born in Wilkesboro, Wilkes
County, N.C., December 4, 1866; attended the Wilkesboro High
School, and was graduated from the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill in 1887; studied law; was admitted to the bar in
1888 and commenced practice in Wilkesboro, N.C.; chairman of the
Wilkes County Democratic executive committee 1890-1923; member of
the Democratic State executive committee 1890-1923; mayor of
Wilkesboro 1894-1896; represented North Carolina at the
centennial of Washington's inauguration in New York in 1889;
unsuccessful candidate for election in 1896 to the Fifty-fifth
Congress; elected as a Democrat to the Sixtieth Congress (March
4, 1907-March 3, 1909); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in
1908 to the Sixty-first Congress; resumed the practice of law in
North Wilkesboro, N.C.; died in Statesville, N.C., November 22,
1923; interment in the St. Paul's Episcopal Churchyard,
Wilkesboro, N.C.
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949;
Biographies, p.1571
MITCHELL, Anderson, a
Representative from North Carolina; born on a farm near Milton,
Caswell County, N.C., June 13, 1800; attended Bingham's School,
Orange County, N.C., and was graduated from the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1821; studied law; was admitted
to the bar and commenced practice in Morganton, Burke County,
N.C., in 1830; moved to Jefferson, Ashe County, N.C., in 1831;
clerk of the superior court of Ashe County; moved to Wilkesboro,
Wilkes County, N.C., in 1835, and resumed the practice of law;
elected as a Whig to the Twenty-seventh Congress to fill the
vacancy caused by the death of Lewis Williams and served from
April 27, 1842, to March 3, 1843; unsuccessful candidate for
reelection in 1842 to the Twenty-eighth Congress; member of the
State house of commons 1852-1854; elected to the State senate in
1860; delegate to the State convention of May 20, 1861, that
passed the ordinance of secession, and voted against secession;
was appointed judge of the superior court by Provisional Governor
Holden in September 1865, subsequently elected and reelected, and
served until June 30, 1875, when he resigned; died in
Statesville, N.C., December 24, 1876; interment in the
Presbyterian Cemetery.
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949;
Biographies, p.2052
YORK, Tyre, a Representative
from North Carolina; born in Rockford, Surry County, N.C., May 4,
1836; attended the common schools; studied medicine at the
Charleston (S.C.) Medical College and commenced practice in
Traphill, Wilkes County, N.C., in 1859; also engaged in
agricultural pursuits; served during the latter part of the Civil
War as surgeon of the Wilkes County Home Guards; was a member of
the State house of representatives in 1865, 1866, 1879, and 1887;
served in the State senate in 1876 and 1881; elected as a Liberal
Democrat to the Forty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1883-March 3,
1885); did not seek renomination in 1884, having become a
gubernatorial candidate; unsuccessful candidate for Governor of
North Carolina in 1884; resumed agricultural pursuits; died in
Traphill, N.C., January 28, 1916; interment in Traphill Cemetery.
The 20th Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable
Americans, Vol.7, p.342
MERCER, Jesse, clergyman, was
born in Halifax county, N.C., Dec. 16, 1769; son of the Rev.
Silas Mercer born 1745. His parents removed to Georgia in 1775,
and settled in Wilkes county, but returned to North Carolina at
the outbreak of the Revolution, where he remained until 1788,
when he once more settled in Georgia. He was almost wholly
self-educated, and was received the Baptist church in 1787. He
was married, Jan. 31, 1788, to Sabrina Chivers, and was ordained,
Nov. 7, 1789, by the Rev.Silas Mercer and the Rev. Sanders
Walker. He was pastor of churches in Greene, Oglethorpe, Wilkes,
Hancock and Putnam counties, 1789-1840, during which time he
travelled extensively throughout the state. He was also the
leader of a political party in Wilkes county, and was sent by
them as a delegate to the state constitutional convention in
1798. He was president of the general Baptist missionary
convention, 1816, and represented the board in the general
conventions of 1820 and 1826. He was for a time corresponding
secretary of the board of trustees of the co-operating Baptist
associations for instructing and evangelizing the Creek Indians.
He organized the general committee of the Georgia Baptists, which
resulted in the Georgia Baptist convention, and was president of
the convention for eighteen consecutive years, and presiding
officer of the Georgia association up to the time of his death.
He was [p.343]influential in establishing Mount Enon academy in
Richmond county in 1807, and was one of the founders of Mercer
Institute, Penfield, Greene county, in 1833, named in his honor,
which became Mercer university in 1837, and was removed to Macon
in 1870. He gave the sum of $40,000 to the university during his
life and by will, and served as a trustee, 1838-41. He gave about
$25,000 to other religious and educational institutions, among
them Columbian college, Washington, D.C. He received the honorary
degree D.D. from Brown university in 1835. He edited the
Christian Index, the first Baptist newspaper published in
Georgia, which he purchased of Dr. W. T. Brantly, of
Philadelphia, in 1833, and established at his home in Washington,
Ga., and in 1840 he gave it to the Georgia Baptist Convention. He
collected a volume of hymns entitled Mercer's Cluster, and is the
author of: History of the Georgia Baptist Association (1836). He
died in Washington, Ga., Sept. 6, 1841.
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949;
Biographies, p.1373
JOHNSON, Andrew, a
Representative and a Senator from Tennessee and a Vice President
and a President of the United States; was born in Raleigh, N.C.,
on December 29, 1808; self-educated, never having attended school
a day in his life; at the age of ten was apprenticed to a tailor;
ran away and worked as a tailor at Laurens Court House, S.C.,
until 1825; returned and endeavored to make settlement with his
former employer; moved to Greeneville, Tenn., in September 1826,
where he received instruction in elementary English branches from
the young woman he married May 27, 1826; moved to Rutledge:,
Grainger County, Tenn., where he was employed as a tailor for a
short time; returned to Greeneville, Tenn., in 1827; organized a
workingman's party in 1828 and became its leader; alderman of
Greeneville 1828-1830; mayor 1830-1834; member of the State house
of representatives 1835-1837 and 1839-1841; unsuccessful
candidate for presidential elector on the Democratic ticket of
Van Burro and Johnson in 1840; served in the State senate in
1841; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth and to the four
succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1843-March 3, 1853); did not seek
renomination, having become a gubernatorial candidate; Governor
of Tennessee 1853-1857; elected to the United States Senate and
served from October 8, 1857, to March 4, 1862, when he resigned;
appointed by President Lincoln Military Governor of Tennessee,
with the rank of brigadier general of Volunteers, March 4,1862;
was nominated as a War Democrat and elected Vice President of the
United States on the Republican ticket headed by Abraham Lincoln
in 1864 and was inaugurated March 4, 1865; became President of
the United States April 15, 1865, upon the death of Abraham
Lincoln; wide differences arising between the President and the
Republican Congress, a resolution for his impeachment passed the
House of Representatives February 24, 1868; eleven articles were
set out in the resolutions and the trial before the Senate lasted
three months, at the conclusion of which he was acquitted (May
16, 1868) by a vote of thirty-five for conviction to nineteen for
acquittal, the necessary two-thirds vote for impeachment not
having been obtained; retired to his home in Tennessee upon the
expiration of the presidential term, March 3, 1869; unsuccessful
candidate for election to the United States Senate before the
legislature in 1869; unsuccessful as an independent candidate for
election in 1872 to the Forty-third Congress; elected to the
United States Senate and served from March 4, 1875, until his
death at the home of his daughter near Elizabethton, Carter
County, Tenn., July 31, 1875; interment in the Andrew Johnson
National Cemetery, Greeneville, Greene County, Tenn.
Biographical Directory of the American
Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.1611
NELSON, Thomas Amos Rogers, a
Representative from Tennessee; born in Kingston, Roane County,
Tenn., March 19, 1812; completed preparatory studies, and was
graduated from East Tennessee College in 1828; studied law; was
admitted to the bar in 1832 and commenced practice in Washington
County, Tenn.; served two terms as attorney general of the first
judicial circuit; presidential elector on the Whig ticket of Clay
and Frelinghuysen in 1844 and of Taylor and Fillmore in 1848;
appointed commissioner (diplomatic) to China March 6, 1851, and
resigned July 2, 1851; elected as a Unionist to the Thirty-sixth
Congress (March 4, 1859-March 3, 1861); reelected to the
Thirty-seventh Congress, and while en route to Washington to take
his seat, during the Civil War, was arrested by Confederate
scouts, conveyed to Richmond as a prisoner, paroled, and allowed
to return to his home; upon the advent of the Union Army into
East Tennessee in 1863 he moved to Knoxville; delegate to the
Union National Convention at Philadelphia in 1866 and to the
Democratic National Convention at New York in 1868; one of the
counsel who defended President Andrew Johnson in his impeachment
trial in 1868; elected judge of the State supreme court in 1870
and served until his resignation in 1871; died in Knoxville,
Tenn., August 24, 1873; interment in Gray Cemetery.
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949;
Biographies, p.1724
REECE, Brazilia Carroll, a
Representative from Tennessee; born near Butler, Johnson County,
Tenn., December 22, 1889; attended the public schools, Watauga
Academy, Carson and Newman College, New York University, and the
University of London; assistant secretary and instructor in the
New York University in 1916 and 1917; during the First World War
enlisted in May 1917 and served with the American Expeditionary
Forces from October 1917 to July 1919; was at the front two
hundred and ten days; commanded the Third Battalion of the One
Hundred and Second Infantry; cited for bravery by Marshal Petain
and Generals Pershing, Hale, and Edwards; was decorated with the
Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, Purple
Heart, and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm; director of the
School of Business Administration of New York University in 1919
and 1920; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-seventh and to the
four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1921-March 3, 1931);
unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1930 to the
Seventy-second Congress; elected to the Seventy-third and to the
six succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1933-January 3, 1947); was
not a candidate for renomination in 1946; delegate to the
Republican National Conventions in 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944,
and 1948; engaged in banking; member of the Board of Regents of
the Smithsonian Institution in 1945 and 1946; chairman of the
Republican National Committee 1946-1948; is a resident of Johnson
City, Tenn.
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949;
Biographies, p.1793
SELLS, Sam Riley, a
Representative from Tennessee; born in Bristol, Sullivan County,
Tenn., August 2, 1871; attended the rural schools and King
College in Bristol, Tenn., 1885-1890; studied law; was admitted
to the bar and commenced practice in Blountville, Tenn.; served
as a private in Company F, Third Regiment, Tennessee Volunteer
Infantry, during the Spanish-American War; moved to Johnson City,
Tenn., and engaged in the lumber business; member of the State
senate 1909-1911; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-second and
to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1911-March 3, 1921);
unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1920 delegate to the
Republican National Conventions in Chicago in 1912 and 1916;
resumed the lumber business in Johnson City, Tenn.; also engaged
in the manufacture of shale brick and in numerous other business
enterprises; died in Johnson City, Tenn., November 2, 1935;
interment in Oak Hill Cemetery.
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949;
Biographies, p.1897
TAYLOR, Alfred Alexander (son
of Nathaniel Green Taylor and brother of Robert Love Taylor), a
Representative from Tennessee; born in Happy Valley, Carter
County, Tenn., August 6, 1848; attended Duffield Academy,
Elizabethton, Tenn., Buffalo Institute (later Milligan College),
Tennessee, and the schools of Edge Hill and Pennington Seminary,
New Jersey; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1874 and
commenced practice in Jonesboro, Washington County, Tenn.; member
of the State house of representatives in 1875 and 1876; candidate
for presidential elector on the Republican ticket of Hayes and
Wheeler in 1876 and on the Garfield and Arthur ticket in 1880;
unsuccessful Republican candidate for Governor in 1886, being
defeated by his brother, Robert; delegate to the Republican
National Convention at Chicago in 1888; elected as a Republican
to the Fifty-first, Fifty-second, and Fifty-third Congresses
(March 4, 1889-March 3, 1895); declined to be a candidate in 1894
for renomination; engaged in the practice of law in Johnson City,
Tenn.; engaged as a lecturer and also interested in agricultural
pursuits; candidate for presidential elector on the Republican
ticket of Hughes and Fairbanks in 1916; Governor of Tennessee
1921-1923; again engaged in lecturing and in agricultural
pursuits and resided at Milligan College, Carter County, Tenn.;
died while on a visit in Johnson City, Tenn., November 25, 1931;
interment in Monte Vista Cemetery.
The 20th Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable
Americans, Vol. 2, p.133
CARTER, Samuel Powhatan, naval
officer, was born in Carter county, Tenn., Aug. 6, 1819. He
attended Washington college, Tenn., studied at Princeton, and was
appointed a midshipman in the U. S. navy in 1840. In 1846 he was
on duty at the naval school in Philadelphia, when he was promoted
passed midshipman. He served in the Mexican war, participating in
the taking of Vera Cruz. During 1847-48 he was attached to the U.
S. naval observatory in Washington; 1851-53 was assistant
instructor at the U. S. naval academy; was promoted master in
1854, and lieutenant in 1855. During 1855-57 he was attached to
the San Jacinto of the Asiatic squadron, and participated in the
taking of the Barrier forts in the Canton river. He was assistant
instructor in seamanship at the naval academy from 1858 to 1860,
and on July 11, 1861, was ordered on special service with the
army in east Tennessee. He was commissioned acting
brigadier-general Sept. 16, 1861, and brigadier-general May 1,
1862; was provost-marshal of east Tennessee during 1863-64; was
brevetted major-general of United States volunteers March 13,
1865; was mustered out January, 1866. He was distinguished for
his gallantry in the engagements at Wildcat, Ky., October, 1861,
Mill Spring, 1862, and in the capture of Cumberland Gap. He
commanded the left wing of the army at Kinston, N. C., March 10,
1865, and defeated the Confederates at Goldsboro. At the close of
the war he returned to naval duty, was promoted commander June
25, 1865; during 1865-72 was commandant at the U.S. naval
academy; was promoted captain, 1870; was a member of the
lighthouse board, 1867-80; was promoted commodore Nov. 13, 1878;
was retired Aug. 6, 1881, and promoted rear-admiral on the
retired list May16, 1882. He died in Washington, D. C., May 26,
1891.
The 20th Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans,
Vol.6, p.93
JOHNSON, Eliza
McCardle, wife of President Johnson, was born in
Leesburg, Tenn., Oct. 4, 1810. She was the only daughter of a
widow, who removed to Greeneville, where the daughter received a
superior education for the time and place. Mrs. McCardle died in
April, 1854. On May 27, 1826, Eliza McCardle was married to
Andrew Johnson, a young journeyman tailor, who came from South
Carolina and settled in Greeneville, then her home. She soon
discovered the latent talent in her husband, and devoted herself
to its development. Under her instruction he added largely to his
small fund of self-acquired knowledge, and two years after their
marriage he was elected alderman of the city, and in 1830 mayor.
In 1861 she accompanied her husband to Washington, D.C., where he
was U.S. senator, but was obliged to return to her home on
account of ill-health, after a stay of two months. When her
husband was appointed military governor of Tennessee in 1862 she
was not able to join him, although ordered beyond the Confederate
lines by Gen. E. Kirby Smith on April 24, 1862, and for several
months she was kept in constant terror by accounts of his
assassination and other false rumors of bodily harm, a price
having been set on his head. She obtained a pass through the
Confederate lines in September, 1862, for herself and children,
including Mr. and Mrs. Stover and family; but they were detained
in Murfreesboro by General Forrest until she received permission
from the Richmond government to join her husband. Governor
Johnson was elected vice-president in 1864, and his wife and
family remained in Nashville until his inauguration as President
on the death of President Lincoln, April 14, 1865. She then went
to Washington with her family, including their daughters, Martha
and Mary, Martha was born in Greeneville, Tenn., Oct. 25, 1828,
was educated at Georgetown, D.C., and during her school days was
a frequent guest of Mrs. Polk, wife of the President, at the
White House. She had returned to Greeneville in 1851, and on Dec.
13, 1857, was married to David T. Patterson, a local judge and
lawyer. Another daughter, Mary, was born in Greeneville, Tenn.,
May 8, 1832, and in April, 1852, married Daniel Stover, who died
in 1862, leaving her with three children. Mrs. Stover was a
member of her mother's family during the trying times of 1862,
and escaped with her husband and children to Nashville, where
Mrs. Johnson's eldest son, Charles, died by being thrown from his
horse. These two daughters relieved Mrs. Johnson of the social
cares of the White House during her husband's administration, she
being most of the time an invalid, and at its close she returned
with the family to Greeneville, where soon after her son, Col.
Robert Johnson, died. Her husband died suddenly, July 13, 1875,
while visiting their youngest daughter in Carter county, and his
body was brought to her desolate home and buried in the cemetery
there. She survived him but a few months, and died at the home of
her eldest daughter, at Bluff City, Tenn., Jan. 13, 1876.
Thomas William Herringshaw, Encyclopedia of American Biography,
p.918
TAYLOR, Nathaniel
G., lawyer, clergyman, congressman, was born Dec.
29, 1819, in Carter county, Tenn. He was a representative in
congress from Tennessee from 1854 to 1855; was a presidential
elector in 1853 and 1860; and was for several years a minister in
the methodist episcopal church south. In 1865 he was elected a
representative from Tennessee to the thirty-ninth congress. In
1867 he was appointed commissioner of Indian affairs.
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949;
Biographies, p.1901
TAYLOR, Nathaniel Green (father of Alfred
Alexander Taylor and Robert Love Taylor), a Representative from
Tennessee; born in Happy Valley, Carter County, Tenn., December
29, 1819; was educated in private schools and Washington College,
near Jonesboro, Tenn.; was graduated from Princeton College in
1840; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1841 and commenced
practice in Elizabethton, Carter County, Tenn.; presidential
elector on the Whig ticket of Scott and Graham in 1852; elected
as a Whig to the Thirty-third Congress to fill the vacancy caused
by the death of Brookins Campbell, who never qualified, and
served from March 30, 1854, to March 3, 1855; unsuccessful
candidate for reelection in 1854 to the Thirty-fourth Congress;
presidential elector on the Constitutional Union ticket of Bell
and Everett in 1860; member of the relief association formed for
the aid of war sufferers in east Tennessee and lectured in their
behalf throughout the East; upon the readmission of Tennessee to
representation was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress and
served from July 24, 1866, to March 3, 1867; was not a candidate
for renomination in 1866, Commissioner of Indian Affairs from
March 26, 1867, to April 21, 1869, when he retired, and devoted
himself to farming and preaching the Gospel; died in Happy
Valley, Carter County, Tenn., April 1, 1887; interment in the old
Taylor private cemetery.
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949;
Biographies, p.954
CARTER, William Blount, a
Representative from Tennessee; born in Elizabethton, Carter
County, Tenn., October 22, 1792; attended the public schools;
during the War of 1812 served as a colonel; member of the State
house of representatives; served in the State senate; delegate to
the State constitutional convention in 1834 and served as its
presiding officer; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-fourth,
Twenty-fifth, and Twenty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1835-March 3,
1841); died in Elizabethton, Tenn., April 17, 1848; interment in
Carter Cemetery.
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949;
Biographies, p.1678
PHILLIPS, Dayton Edward, a
Representative from Tennessee; born in Shell Creek, Carter
County, Tenn., March 29, 1910; raised on a farm; attended the
country school, and Cloudland High School, Roan Mountain, Tenn.,
Milligan (Tenn.) College 1929-1931, and the University of
Tennessee at Knoxville 1932-1934; taught school in Carter County,
Tenn., in 1931 and 1932; was graduated from the National
University Law School, Washington, D.C., in 1936; was admitted to
the bar in 1935 and commenced practice in Elizabethton, Tenn.;
attorney for Carter County 1938-1942; district attorney general,
first judicial circuit of Tennessee, 1942-1947; during World War
II served as an enlisted man in the United States Army, with
overseas service in the European Theater of Operations,
1943-1945; elected as a Republican to the Eightieth Congress
(January 3, 1947-January 3, 1949). Reelected to the Eighty-first
Congress.
TAYLOR, Robert Love (son of
Nathaniel Green Taylor and brother of Alfred Alexander Taylor), a
Representative and a Senator from Tennessee; born in Happy
Valley, Carter County, Tenn., July 31, 1850; attended Pennington Seminary and Buffalo Institute
(later Milligan College), Tennessee; engaged in making bar iron and in tobacco raising; studied
law in Jonesboro, Tenn.; was admitted to the bar in 1878 and practiced in [p.1902] Elizabethton
and Jonesboro; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1879-March 3,
1881); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1880 to the Forty-seventh Congress and for
election in 1882 to the Forty-eighth Congress; practiced law and also engaged in the newspaper
business in Johnson City, Tenn., in 1880; presidential elector on the Democratic ticket of
Cleveland and Hendricks in 1884; pension agent at Knoxville, Tenn., 1885-1887; was Governor
of Tennessee 1887-1891; presidential elector on the Democratic ticket of Cleveland and
Stevenson in 1892; resumed the practice of law in Chattanooga, Tenn.; again served as Governor
of Tennessee from 1897 to 1899; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in January
1907 for the term beginning March 4, 1907, and served until his death in Washington, D.C.,
March 31, 1912; interment in the Old Gray Cemetery, Knoxville, Tenn.; reinterred in Monta
Vista Burial Park, Jefferson City, Tenn., in 1938.