CARROLL

COUNTY

TENNESSEE

B I O G R A P H I E S

Benjamin Augustine Enloe

Hon. Benjamin Augustine Enloe, who for more than a half century figured prominently in the public life of Tennessee and who at the time of his demise was serving for the eighteenth consecutive year as chairman of the Tennessee Railroad and Public Utilities Commission, passed away July 8, 1922, at the age of seventy-four years. He was born near Clarksburg, Carroll county, this state, on the 18th of January, 1848, was reared on a farm and enjoyed the benefit of such rural schools as the country afforded between 1855 and 1865. When a young man of twenty he entered Bethel College, while subsequently he became a student in the literary department of Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee. On attaining his majority and while still pursuing his education in Cumberland University, he was elected a member of the house of representatives of the general assembly of the state, being reelected under the new constitution in 1870. Two years later he was graduated from the law department of Cumberland University. He was a delegate to the national democratic convention at Baltimore in 1872, was a Tilden and Hendricks elector in 1876 and in 1878 was appointed commissioner to negotiate settlement of the state debt. He served on the Democratic State Executive Committee from 1878 until 1880, acted as president of the state democratic convention in the latter year and was also a delegate to the national democratic convention at Cincinnati in 1880. Becoming identified with journalistic interests, he edited the Jackson Tribune and Sun from 1874 until 1886, while in 1883 and 1884 he was president of the Tennessee Press Association. Hon. B. A. Enloe sat in the national halls of legislation as a member of the fiftieth, fifty-first, fifty-second and fifty-third congresses, giving thoughtful and earnest consideration to all the vital questions that came up for settlement and making a record that assured him the continued support of his constituents.

Following his retirement from congress, Colonel Enloe edited The Daily Sun at Nashville for two years and then removed to Louisville, Kentucky, where for a similar period he edited the Louisville Dispatch. In 1904 he acted as secretary of the state fair commission and director of exhibits from Tennessee at the World's Fair in St. Louis. The same year he was elected railroad commissioner for a term of six years, on the expiration of which period he was reelected in 1910 and in 1916 was chosen once more. In 1905 he was elected chairman of the Tennessee Railroad Commission, which position he occupied to the time of his death. Had he lived until the expiration of his term, on the 1st of January, 1923, he would have rounded out fifty-four years as a more or less familiar figure in the politics of Tennessee.

On the 5th of April, 1870, Colonel Enloe was united in marriage to Miss Fannie Howard Ashworth of Lebanon, this state, and they became parents of a son and three daughters, as follows: Benjamin Augustine, Jr., of McAlester, Oklahoma; Adele, the wife of George L. Wilkinson of Evanston, Illinois; Fantine, the wife of Alexander M. McClain of Nashville, Tennessee; and Marie, who was the wife of J. Hessey Corbitt of Nashville, but who died on December 31, 1920. Colonel Enloe is survived by the following grandchildren: Mrs. Arthur Bunker of Denver, Colorado; Lawrence, Lucien and Enloe Wilkinson of Evanston, Illinois; Kirk, Peyton and Adelaide Enloe of McAlester, Oklahoma; and Enloe McClain and Misses Marie and Frances Murray of Nashville.

Following are the resolutions, in part, passed by the thirty-fourth annual convention of the National Association of Railway and Public Utilities Commissioners at Detroit, on the 14th of November, 1922. ?Colonel B. A. Enloe was one of the real great men Tennessee has produced in the last half century; a man of broadest vision, with an analytical mind that could plumb all depths and touch all shores of human life. It was his great mind as chairman of the Tennessee Railroad and Public Utilities Commission that blazed the way in the new field of jurisprudence covering public utilities and their regulation in Tennessee. Courage, that trait so admired in men, B. A. Enloe possessed to a marked degree. Master of himself, he was unafraid of circumstances. Resolutely he took hold of all problems as they presented themselves, with a firm determination to solve them accurately and with justice to all concerned. Uncomplainingly he accepted all criticism of his official acts, conscious that he had done his full duty, and by his sturdy independence won the respect and support of those who had opposed him. Confronted, as he often was as chairman of the Tennessee Railroad and Public Utilities Commission by foreboding conditions, he bravely assumed his responsibilities and firmly resisted all clamor, whether it came in the shape of popular revolt or bickerings from corporate sources. Indeed, every action as a public official and private citizen served to emphasize his strong character. He was liked for himself, and association with him was both pleasant and profitable. He was honest, brave, firm, unsparing of himself in the administration of a public trust. He could not be swerved from what he thought was right. Honored by his fellow citizens, he was not ungrateful. He gave in return the best that was in him. Such men are dependable in all walks of life.

HON. BENJAMIN A. ENLOE

Our lamented colleague will be seen no more among men, but with a knowledge of the splendid record he has made in his pilgrimage of life, and the honor, esteem and satisfaction which have crowned his efforts here, we are sure that in calling him from the scenes of earth the Almighty has provided for him an abiding place where pain and suffering are unknown

Tennessee - The Volunteer State

Enloe, Benjamin Augustine, (1848-1922) a Representative from Tennessee; born near Clarksburg, Carroll County, Tenn., January 18, 1848; attended the public schools, Bethel College, McKenzie, Tenn., and the Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tenn.; while a student at the latter institution in 1869 was elected a member of the State house of representatives; reelected under the new constitution in 1870; was graduated from the law department of Cumberland University in 1872; was admitted to the bar in 1873 and commenced practice in Jackson, Tenn.; delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1872; appointed a commissioner by Governor Marks in 1878 to negotiate a settlement of the State debt; served on the State executive committee 1878-1880; delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1880; edited the Jackson Tribune and Sun 1874-1886; elected as a Democrat to the Fiftieth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1887-March 3, 1895); chairman, Committee on Education (Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1894 to the Fifty-fourth Congress; edited the Daily Sun at Nashville, Tenn., for two years; moved to Louisville, Ky., and edited the Louisville Dispatch for two years; secretary of the State fair commission and director of exhibits from Tennessee at St. Louis World’s Fair in 1903; elected railroad commissioner of Tennessee and served from 1904 until his death in Nashville, Tenn., July 8, 1922; interment in Mount Olivet Cemetery.
Goodspeeds History of TN