Biographies - Hamilton County Genealogy and History

He raised a regiment in Hamilton County for service in the Mexican War and was elected major.

William, who served in the Confederate Army; John H., born 1849, died Dec. 11, 1927, married Sarah Louise Bean, daughter of Major William Bean, Sarah, who married James Putnam; Hasten Poe.

Born about 1778, was one of the earliest citizens of Hamilton County. He was the first of a large family to move to the section and was followed by numerous brothers, sisters, and other kins people.

He moved to the section by 1810, as the tomb of his wife is marked with that date.

When Hamilton County was erected, the county seat was estabished on his farm and was first called Hamilton County Court house.

He secured a post office which was also called Hamilton County Courthouse and he was appointed first postmaster.

He was the first County Court Clerk and served continuously from 1819 until 1844, one year before his death.

He married Phoebe Thurman, daughter .of Phillip Thurman. She was born June 25, 1786, died Aug. 17, 1810 (some records say 1816).

He erected a handsome tomb at his wife's grave and his own tomb, unmarked, is beside it.

Their children were Philip Thurman Rawlings, who lived in Rhea County; and Asahel Rawlings III.

was born March 7, 1846, in Hamilton county, Tennessee, a son of Lewis and Margaret (Donohoo) Shepherd who were married in 1833 and in 1839 he located in Hamilton county and remained until his death in 1856. His wife survived him until 1879

The younger Lewis Shepherd's early education was received at Burritt College in Van Buren county and at H. W. Von Alderhoff's Institute on Lookout Mountain, but his academic training was suddenly interrupted by the Civil war. At the time he was only fifteen years old, but he quickly laid aside his books to enlist in the Confederate army as a private in Company A, Fifth Regiment of Tennessee Cavalry, under Colonel G. W. McKenzie. He was mustered into the service at Knoxville and was placed on duty in eastern Tennessee until the time of General Zollicoffer's campaign through Kentucky. He participated in the battle of Fishing Creek, then was with Bragg in Kentucky. Shared in several skirmishes with Wheeler, also served in the rear guard on retreat.

After this campaign Lewis Shepherd returned to eastern Tennessee, where he remained until the engagement at Chickamauga, where he took active part in the capture of Cloud Springs General Hospital on the second day of this conflict. He then accompanied Wheeler upon the latter's famous raid through central Tennessee, but shortly afterward was made a prisoner of war and was confined at Camp Morton, Indiana, until February, 1865, when he was exchanged and sent to Richmond.

He then joined Gen. J. C. Vaughn's Cavalry in southwest Virginia and after this leader's surrender marched with him to Charlotte, North Carolina, and reached that destination at the same time that President Davis and his cabinet arrived. When they started westward under cavalry escort Mr. Shepherd continued with his comrades until their forces were disbanded at Washington.

After his discharge from the army Lewis Shepherd began the study of law at Ringgold, Georgia, and in 1867 was admitted to practice before the bar at that place. Three years later he came to Chattanooga, where he was known as the youngest attorney then in the community. His ability and popularity is indicated by the fact that at the age of twenty-five years he was elected attorney general for the criminal court of Hamilton county and continued to hold this office until it was discontinued by the act of 1875. This was just the beginning of a series of honors bestowed upon him by the people.

In the year 1876 Lewis Shepherd was elected to the lower house of the Tennessee legislature, and in 1890 was again elected. During the latter session he became prominently identified with the passage of the Dortch election law, which was modeled after the Australian ballot system.

From 1880 until 1882 Lewis Shepherd served as special chancellor of the third chancery division, having been commissioned to take the place of Judge S. A. Key, who was ill.

For twenty years he was general attorney in Tennessee for the Cincinnati, New Orleans, Texas & Pacific Railroad and the Alabama Great Southern Railway (Queen & Crescent Route).

In 1891 Mr. Shepherd was admitted to practice in the United States circuit court of appeals, and was presented with a certificate for having carried to that court the first case ever taken before that body anywhere in the country.

In 1906 he was admitted to practice before the bar of the United States supreme court. Judge Shepherd was always a diligent worker in the interests of the Tennessee State Bar Association, of which he was a member from the time of its organization.

In recognition of the professional achievements attained by him, the University of Chattanooga conferred upon Judge Shepherd the degree of Master of Laws in 1905.

Politically Judge Shepherd was a republican and religiously he was a Baptist, and for the good of his party and his church he labored hard. He was a man of public spirit and from the uncertain days just after the war, when as a member of the Ku Klux Klan he fought for the supremacy of the whites and the expulsion of the carpetbagger, until the day of his demise, he shared in all movements for the development of his state.

In Masonry Judge Shepherd ranked high, having attained the Shrine and also having been a Knight Templar.

In civic affairs he was also active, as evidenced by his membership in the Board of Trade, of which he was a charter member, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Commercial Club. Judge Shepherd was one of the organizers and a charter member of the Mountain City Club.

On December 19, 1876, Lewis Shepherd was married to Miss Lilah Pope, the daughter of Colonel T. A. Pope, of Sequatchie county, Tennessee, a wealthy farmer and slaveholder.

To Judge Shepherd and his wife were born five children, namely: Thomas Pope, a prominent attorney of Chattanooga; Lewis, Jr., who is engaged in the wholesale dry goods business in St. Louis, Missouri; William C., owner and publisher of the Hamilton County Herald at Chattanooga; Frederick S., also engaged in the practice of law in Chattanooga; and J. Quintus, a farmer operating over two thousand acres of land.

The death of Lewis Shepherd occurred May 14, 1917, and in his passing the state lost one of her most distinguished sons.

Judge Shepherd's name is one of the few which stand out above the rank and file of his profession in the history of the state; he attained that eminence in his work which few reach, but to which many aspire. Time has placed its approval upon his accomplishments.

Mrs. Shepherd survives her husband and resides on her plantation near Chattanooga.

John Crawford applied for revolutionary pension while living in Hamilton County,

Tenn. He was born Oct. 29, 1762 seven miles below Staunton, Va. He moved with his father to Surry County, N. C. where he resided during the Revolution. He enlisted three times, first in SurreyCounty in 1778; the second time in 1780 under Capt. Gibson Woodridge and Maj. Joel Lewis; the third time in 1781 under Capt. Edmund Hickman and Col. Rutherford. He was in the battles of Eutaw Springs, Briar Creek and others.

After the War he moved to Washington County, N. C. (now Tennessee), and then to Greene, Knox, Anderson, Bledsoe and Hamilton Counties, Tenn. He seems to have lived for a time in Rhea County also.

Note: He also served in the War of 1812, enlisting in the Washington County Infantry. While he lived in WashingtonCountyhe was a member of the Constitutional Convention of Tennessee and a member of the General Assembly of Tennessee.

His descendants lived in the Graysville section of Hamilton County, Tenn., although it is said in the family records that he died in Ross’s Landing. He died after 1840 as he is on the 1840 Pension List, but by that time the village of Ross's Landing had been renamed Chattanooga.

He married Mary Vernon, daughter of Alexander and Margaret Chesnee Vernon. She was born in 1767 and the marriage took place in Spartanburg, S. C. about 1782.

They had at least three children and possibly others. The oldest son, William Ayres Crawford. Another son, John Crawford, junior born in WashingtonCounty, Dec. 16, 1809, entered the Confederate Army and died a prisoner at Camp Morton, Ind., April 10, 1762. Polly, a daughter of John Crawford and Margaret Chesnee Crawford married ____ White, (probably Silas White.)

(Some Tennessee Heroes of the Revolution, First Pamphlet) Early Tennessee Settlers CD

James Davis applied for revolutionary pension while living in Hamilton County, Tenn., Aug. 28, 1832.

He was born in Faupuier County, Va., the date not given but he was seventy-one in 1832, therefore born in 1761.

He was living in Wilkes County, N.C., when he enlisted in Capt. John Key’s company in which he served three months; he also served five months in Capt. Smith’s company, six weeks in Col. Cleveland’s regiment and three months in Capt. Gordon’s company, Col. Malbury’s regiment and was in the battle of Eutaw Springs. He also served six weeks in Capt. Pendleton Isbell’s company.

He moved after the Revolution to Greene County, Tenn., then to Campbell and White Counties, Tenn., then to Jackson County, Ala., then to Marion County, Tenn., then to Hamilton County, Tenn., where he died Dec. 9, 1843.

He married Mary, her surname not being given, in 1782, when she was sixteen years of age, so born 1766. She survived him and died in Hamilton County, after 1844 when the record states that she was living and before April 19, 1845.

Note: The graves of James and Mary Davis are in that section of Hamilton County which became Sequatchie County, Tenn.

(Some Tennessee Heroes of the Revolution, First Pamphlet) Early Tennessee Settlers CD

He moved to Knox County with his parents when he was a boy. In the early 1840's he moved to Harrison. Late in life he lived for a time with a daughter in Warren County, and with a daughter in Bradley County.

He married in Monroe County, a widow, Mrs. Eliza A. Martin Manley, who was born June 10, 1813, in Philadelphia, Tenn. She was the daughter of John Martin. She died in November, 1898.

(3) Sidney A. (a daughter), born 1841, married twice, married first, 1860, C. F. Swann,

(7) James Smith, born 1848, died 1930, married Ann Williams, daughter of Samuel Williams;

Born Rhea County, Tenn., Feb. 27, 1824; died in Hamilton County. He was the .eldest son of Robert and Annie Holt Bolton.

He moved to Hamilton County in 1839 and made his home with an uncle. He was appointed postmaster at Sale Creek and served for 12 years.

He was elected to the General Assembly of Tennessee from Hamilton County and was elected Justice of the Peace in 1864.

Member of Congress—Lawyer—Whig Elector—Vehement Speaker—Spot-less Integrity.

In the Whig delegation in Congress from East Tennessee, in 1859 and 1860, as a colleague of Thomas A. R. Nelson and Horace Maynard, was Reese B. Brabson, from the Third, or Chattanooga, District.

He was a native of Sevier County, where he was reared. After finishing his education, he entered the profession of law.

He married the accomplished daughter of Judge Charles F. Keith, a prominent jurist of his day, and moved to Chattanooga. Here he followed his profession with success.

In 1848 he was honored by his Whig friends by being selected as the Whig elector on the Taylor presidential ticket. He made a canvass of the district with Samuel A. Smith, the Democratic elector, then regarded as one of the most promising young Democrats in the State. Smith afterward achieved considerable success, and made some reputation, as a member of Congress for several terms from the Chattanooga District. On the stump Brabson sustained the Whig cause, and upheld its banner to the satisfaction of his party friends. He was an impulsive and vehement speaker, and pleased the people.

In 1851 Mr. Brabson was elected to the lower house of the Legislature from Hamilton County, and served his constituents faithfully, fearlessly, and with ability.

In 1859 he was selected as the Whig candidate for Congress against Samuel A. Smith, the Democratic candidate, and was elected in a district almost invariably giving a majority on the other side.

In the canvass of 1860 he was a warm advocate of John Bell for the Presidency, canvassing his own district for him.

In the Congress of 1859-60 he was an ardent supporter of the Union, and never faltered in his course. During this Congress he made an earnest appeal in behalf of the Union. In the dark days of 1861, when so many trusted leaders fell out of the Union ranks, he never wavered nor turned back. He made speeches for the Union, and exerted all his influence for its preservation. As he was at that time, or recently had been, a anmember of Congress, and a man of spotless integrity, his in-fluence was considerable.

Mr. Brabson's father was a man of wealth, as was also his father-in-law, and from the estates of the two he started life in comfortable circumstances.

From his ambition, energy, and popular manners, his career might have become more distinguished than it was, had he not died when he had scarcely reached the full maturity of his power.

His death occurred in 1863, in the middle of the Civil War, when he was about forty-six years of age.

He was of a warm, genial nature; frank, brave, manly and honest; hence had the faculty of drawing men to him by love as well as by admiration. He was also public spirited, and did much toward laying the foundation of the growth of the flourishing city of Chattanooga.

He was the son of Abel Pearson, and was born in North Carolina in 1787, and was a Presbyterian.

His father, Abel Pearson was a revolutionary soldier, who in his old age, settled in White County, where he drew a pension and was 72 years of age in 1834.

He may have been a brother of David Pearson another revolutionary soldier who settled in Rutherford County, Tennessee and who was 82 years of age in 1732.

Among other pioneer ministers who lived in Hamilton County, was the Rev. Benjamin Wallace whose wife was Mary Anderson.

This Benjamin Wallace died in Hamilton County, September 6, 1856. His wife Mary Anderson was not, as has been stated, a daughter of the Rev. Isaac Anderson, of Blount County, but probably belonged to the family of the name that settled and lived in that part of Hamilton County, that was for several years known as James County (afterward abolished).

The son of Ulrich and Marie Ruohs, was born near Lake Zurich, Switzerland, Dec. 8, 1823.

At the age of eighteen years he came to America and settled in Nashville, Tenn., where, July 17, 1849, he married Nancy Morris, born 1829, died 1909.

In 1850 they moved to Chattanooga. Mr. Ruohs was a cabinetmaker and later became interested in other lines, establishing a cotton factory in 1872. He acquired a great deal of land in Hamilton County and was the owner of the property which is now the National Cemetery.

For years Dr. Noah S. Richie has practiced in Daisy. A native of this state, his birth occurred at Hamilton, on the 6th of October, 1882, a son of William H. and Catherine (Miller) Richie, natives of Hamilton county.

The paternal grandfather, Harvey Richie, lived in Rhea county for many years and his death occurred there.

William H. Richie is living in Dayton, at the age of seventy-two years. He was engaged in farming in his early life and achieved gratifying success in that connection. He is a veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted in the Federal army a short time before the close of the conflict. His wife died in 1903, at the age of fifty-five years.

To the union of Dr. and Mrs. Richie seven children were born: John, farming in Missouri; Harvey, engaged in farming in Kansas; James, engaged in the carpenter business at Birmingham; Maggie, the wife of William Hall, a successful farmer of Kansas; Millie, the wife of John Gray, a farmer of Kansas; Noah S., the subject of this review; and Susie, the wife of Richard Jordan, a farmer of Dayton.

William H. Richie has always given his political allegiance to the republican party and the principles for which it stands. His religious faith is that of the Baptist church.

Of Chattanooga, Tenn.. county court clerk of Hamilton County, was born in Franklin, Tenn., in 1864. He is a son of Jasper N. and Cornelia (Carpenter) McCutcheon, the former a native of Franklin county, Tenn., and the latter of Greene county. Ala.

Jouell N. McCutcheon was educated in the public schools of Winchester district; the Robert Donnell institute of the same place: Winchester Normal, and graduated from Chattanooga university in 1890.

After leaving the university he took a course in a business college, and during much of the time he was gaining his education he taught in Hamilton and Franklin counties.

In 1891 he accepted a position as deputy trustee of Hamilton county, filled that place acceptably for three years, and took up teaching again for a time, at the conclusion of his term in office.

In 1898 he was elected to his present position; was re-elected in 1902, and in June, 1903, graduated from the law department of Chattanooga university.

In 1895 he was married to Miss Sarah Smalling, of Bellbuckle. Tenn., and two children brighten their home: Catherine W, five years old, and Joseph Newton, aged two years.

Mr. McCutcheon is a member of lodge No. 75, Knights of Pythias, lodge No. 244, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Chattanooga lodge No. 91, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

He belongs to the Central Baptist church, of Chattanooga, and is a member of the finance committee. Politically, he is a Democrat.

Mrs. Mary A. Bickerdyke, philanthropist and army nurse, born near Mount Vernon, Knox County, Ohio, 19th July. 1817.

She is the daughter of Hiram and Anna Ball. The mother died when Mary was only seventeen months old. The little one was reared by her grandparents. Her grandsire was a Revolutionary soldier named Rogers and a descendant of the Rogers who landed on Plymouth Rock.

While young, she was married to Mr. Bickerdyke, and in a few years was left a widow, with helpless little ones to rear. When the Civil War came, she left home and loved ones to offer her services as nurse to the soldiers, who were dying by scores for lack of food and care.

When the supplies to the army were sent from Galesburg to Cairo, Mrs. Bickerdyke accompanied them as delegate. After the battle of Belmont she was assigned as nurse to the field hospital.

Fort Donelson brought her in sight of battle for the first time. She obtained supplies sometimes by visiting the North and superintending fairs, by a simple note to a pastor at sermon time, and by her famous "cow and hen " mission, by which she furnished the wounded soldiers with a hundred cows and a thousand hens, to provide fresh dainties for the sufferers.

During the winter of 1863-64 she made a short visit home, and returned and took part in the establishment of Adams Block Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee. This accommodated about 6,000 men, and from this she became the matron of Gayoso Hospital, in which were more than 700 wounded men brought in from Sherman’s battle of Arkansas Post.

She took charge in Memphis, Tennessee, of a small pox hospital and cleaned and renovated it with her own hands, when nine men lay dead with the disease.

Through the battles at Vicksburg, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and Chattanooga Mrs. Bickcrdyke nursed friend and foe alike, and when, in 1864, Sherman started on his memorable March to the Sea, always devoted to the Army of the Tennessee, "Mother" Bickerdyke, as the soldiers used to call her, accompanied the 100,000 men who marched away.

Resaca, Kingston, New Hope, Cassville, Allatoona, Dallas and Kenesaw Mountain furnished her with 13.000 of those brave men as subjects for her care.

When Sherman cut his base of supplies, Mrs. Bickerdyke went to the North and collected immense sanitary stores for the soldiers.

When Sherman entered Savannah, she sailed for the South, to take care of the liberated Union prisoners at Wilmington.

At Beaufort, Averysboro and Bentonville she pursued her mission, and at the request of General Logan and the 15th Army Corps she marched into Alexandria with the army.

At the final review in Washington Mrs. Bickerdyke, mounted upon a saddle-horse, dressed in a simple calico dress and sun-bonnet, accompanied the troops. This dress and bonnet were sold as relics of the war for $100.

Since the rebellion Mrs. Bickerdyke has spent her life in procuring homes and pensions for the "boys." She resides with her son. Prof. Bickerdyke, in Russell, Kansas.

Married William Cooke, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, February 17, 1877, and was the first woman president of the Woman's Press Club of Tennessee.

Her writings are among the best known of our country. Among them are "Mistress Joy," "Return," "Hulda", "A Gourd Fiddle," Their First Formal Call," and many contributions to the best magazines.

Miss McGowan is a sister of Grace McGowan Cooke, and was born at Perrysburg, Ohio, December 10, 1858. She was educated at the public schools of Chattanooga.

In 1890, desirous of procuring literary material, she rode alone through the Black Mountain regions of North Carolina to her home in Chattanooga a distance of one thousand miles.

Her stories are among the best of modern fiction, and include "The Last Word," "Judith of the Cumberlands," and "The Wiving of Lance Cleaverage."

John Anderson, Jr., born in Bledsoe County, December 2, 1814, five weeks after the death of his father, Col. John Anderson; died in James County, now Hamilton County; moved to Hamilton County 1835; opened the first store in Georgetown, and was the first postmaster, serving for fifty years, 1836-1886, thereby establishing a record in the United States Postal Department.

He was also Justice of the Peace for Hamilton and James Counties for forty successive years, 1846-1886. He was a Republican and in active sympathy with the Union during the War Between the States. His five sons were all in the Union Army.

He married twice, first G---- Allen, who died leaving two children. His second wife was Purlymly Luttrell, by whom he had ten children. Among his children was James Madison Anderson who, while serving in the Union Army, received a mortal wound at Pulaski, Sept. 27, 1864.

Some Pioneers – History of Hamilton County and Chattanooga Tennessee, Vol. I, 1931

Josiah McNair Anderson, was born November 29,1807, in Pikeville, Tennessee. He died Nov. 8, 1861.

He was the son of Col. John and Betsey McNair Anderson. He was educated in the county schools and studied law. He was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law in Jasper, Tennessee.

He was elected to the lower house of the General Assembly of Tennessee and was Speaker, 1833-1837. He was elected to the State Senate, 1843-1845, and was elected presiding officer. He was elected a member of Congress, 1849-1851.

He was a Whig. He was appointed a delegate from Tennessee to the Peace Conference in Washington in 1861, whereby the delegates from the South hoped to avoid war.

He was a Colonel in the Tennessee Militia in 1861. He was ardently in favor of the Confederacy and while making a speech, in which he declared his principles, he was assassinated by a fanatic at Looney's Creek, near Whitwell, Marion County, November 8, 1861.

He married December 25, 1828, Nancy Lamb, born September 28, 1807, died March 29, 1850.

1. Alexander Lamb, born December 25, 1832, married twice, first Elizabeth Pope, second, Esther Shelton

5. William Eagleton, who married Isabella McRee, daughter of Major Robert Clarke McRee.

6. James Madison, who was killed while serving in the Confederate Army; he was unmarried.

Some Pioneers – History of Hamilton County and Chattanooga Tennessee, Vol. I, 1931

William Walker Anderson, was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, June 10,1804; be died in Chattanooga, October 29, 1896.

From Rockbridge County he moved to Athens, Tennessee., and after a short residence there he moved to Chattanooga in 1840. While he lived in Athens he went back to Rockbridge County to marry Elizabeth McChesney.

They were founders of the Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga June 21, 1840, and he was elected a ruling elder, having held that office in Athens.

Elizabeth McChesney Anderson died September 12, 1840, soon after their arrival in Chattanooga. She is buried in the Citizens' Cemetery.

Two years after her death William W. Anderson married Mrs. Louisa Penelope Campbell Smith, daughter of Thomas Jefferson Campbell, of Athens, and widow of James Woods Smith, of Chattanooga. The marriage took place in Athens December 13, 1842.

Among the children by the first wife was William W. Anderson, Jr., whose reminiscences have contributed much to this volume. He was born in Athens about 1837. He married twice. His first wife, whom he married in 1859, was Lydia Cravens, born 1839, daughter of Robert Cravens. The marriage took place
at Robert Cravens' home on the side of Lookout Mountain, now called Cravens' Terrace.

Jefferson Campbell Anderson, born January 10, 1844
Sarah Anderson, born August 14, 1845

Mary Louisa Anderson, born February 26, 1856, who married George Vinson and is living, 1931.

Some Pioneers – History of Hamilton County and Chattanooga Tennessee, Vol. I, 1931

Joshua Beck, born in Rhea County, Tennessee., August 8, 1813; died in Hamilton County August 5, 1886.

He was the son of David and Sarah Hunter Beck. He moved to Hamilton County with his parents in 1820.

He married, July 31, 1850, Margaret Hixon who was born February 12, 1833, and died December 4, 1897.

1. Henry Clay, born March 10, 1853, died August 6, 1915, married October 10, 1875, Rhoda D. Wexler, born 1876

4. William Tecumseh Sherman, born June 6, 1866, married October 11, 1887, Flora A. Tarwater

Some Pioneers – History of Hamilton County and Chattanooga Tennessee, Vol. I, 1931

David Newton Bell, son of Samuel Bell, was born in Wythe County, Virginia, in 1787. He died in Bradley County April 16, 1882.

In the early 1840's he moved to Harrison. Late in life he lived for a time with a daughter in Warren County, and with a daughter in Bradley County.

He married in Monroe County, a widow, Mrs. Eliza A. Martin Manley, who was born June 10, 1813, in Philadelphia, Tennessee. She was the daughter of John Martin. She died November, 1898.

3. Sidney A. (a daughter) born 1841, married twice, married first, 1860, C. F. Swann, married second, 1864, James Laymon.

6. James Smith, born 1848, died 1930, married Ann Williams, daughter of Samuel Williams

Some Pioneers – History of Hamilton County and Chattanooga Tennessee, Vol. I, 1931

Benjamin Bartlett Cannon, born Jefferson County, Tennessee, March 13, 1801; died September 8, 1859, in San Augustine, Texas; son of Zachariah and Elizabeth Edgar Cannon.

He married April 3, 1828, in Knox County, Eliza Tunnell, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Johnson Tunnell; Eliza Tunnel was born in Knox County, January 22, 1810, died in Rusk County, Texas, June 9, 1847.

They moved immediately after their marriage to Hamilton County and settled in Dallas, where B. B. Cannon began to practice law. He was Surveyor of the County, 1830-1837, and in 1838 was Clerk of the Circuit Court, a position he held for nine years.

He assisted in the removal of the Indians. He served in the Seminole War as captain of a company and in the Cherokee War.

4. Robert Tunnell, born February 13, 1836, died 1912, married Caroline Matilda Bagley Reagan

Some Pioneers – History of Hamilton County and Chattanooga Tennessee, Vol. I, 1931

Cannon, George Reuben, born Jefferson County, Tennessee; died in Hamilton County; son of Zachariah and Elizabeth Edgar Cannon; married Polly Russell.

Some Pioneers – History of Hamilton County and Chattanooga Tennessee, Vol. I, 1931

Robert Cravens, was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, May 5, 1805. He died in Chattanooga, December 3, 1886.

He moved to Greene County, Tennessee, with his parents when he was a child. His father and mother died while he was young.

He entered the iron business with his uncle, Gen. George Gordon, in Rhea County, when he was 16 years old.

In 1850 he moved to Chattanooga and established the East Tennessee Iron Manufacturing Company, of which he was president. He built a blast furnace, a foundry, and machine shops. He invested in coal fields and was one of the owners of the Etna Coal Company.

In 1854 he bought the place now known as Cravens Terrace on Lookout Mountain and built a home there. The battle of Lookout Mountain took place in his orchard.

After the War he organized the Chattanooga Southern Manufacturing Company,of which he was president. He was a director of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railway Company.

He married twice. His first wife was, before her marriage in 1830, Catherine Roddy, daughter of Jesse and Jennie Mabaffa Roddy. She died September 28, 1845. December 6, 1846, he married Caroline Cunnyngham, sister of Dr. William E. G. Cunnyngham. There were no children by the second marriage.

3. James Ragon, born February 3, 1837, died October 23, 1911, married twice, first Harriet Newell Rogers, and second, Mary D. Lyle;

Some Pioneers – History of Hamilton County and Chattanooga Tennessee, Vol. I, 1931