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Biographies
Major Samuel
Poe
Asahel Rawlings
Lewis
Shepherd
John Crawford
James Davis
David
Newton Bell
Peter
Bolton
B.
Brabson Reese
Abel
Pearson
Reverand
Benjamin Wallace
Joseph
Ruohs
Noah
S. Richie, M.D.
Major Samuel Poe
Born 1810, died 1865, was the son of Hasten and Celia Poe.
He raised a regiment in Hamilton County for service in the Mexican War and was elected
major. Before the regiment could march he was notified that the War was over.
He married Mary E. Bryant, sister of Samuel Bryant. Their children were:
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.
Asahel Rawlings
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 was the son of Asahel and Margaret Rawlings, of Greene County.
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 suggested the name Dallas for the office and town.
He was the first County Court Clerk and served continuously from 1819 until 1844, one year before his death.
His name is signed to the first deed registered in the county.
He used his private seal for several years as the county had no seal.
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.
History
of Hamilton County
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
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.
The arrears of his
pension were paid to his children.
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.)
Transcribed
and Contributed by: Amanda Jowers
(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.
They had several children who were then
residents of Hamilton County.
Note: The graves of James and Mary Davis are in that
section of Hamilton County which became
Sequatchie County,
Tenn.
Transcribed
and Contributed by: Amanda Jowers
(Some Tennessee Heroes of the
Revolution, First Pamphlet) Early Tennessee Settlers CD
David Newton
Bell
Son of Samuel Bell, was born in Wythe County, Va., in 1787.
He died in Bradley County April 16, 1882.
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.
Their children were:
(1) Samuel Granville, born 1837, died unmarried;
(2) Mary J., born April 1, 1839, married W. H. Smartt;
(3) Sidney A. (a daughter), born 1841, married twice, married first, 1860, C. F. Swann,
married second, 1864, James Laymon;
(4) Rosa, born 1844, married Gus Cate;
(5) David Newton, Jr., born 1846, died unmarried;
(7) James Smith, born 1848, died 1930, married Ann Williams, daughter of Samuel Williams;
(8) Ellen N., born 1850, married Allen C. Burns.
The
History of Hamilton County
Peter
Bolton
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.
He married in 1852, in Bledsoe County, Selena L. Merriam.
History
of Hamilton County
B. Brabson Reese
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.
History
of Hamilton County
Abel Pearson
Abel Pearson, minister, lived in Hamilton County.
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 is said to have served in the Virginia Line.
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.
Tennessee Cousins
Reverand Benjamin Wallace
Pioneer Minister of Hamilton County
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).
Rev. Benjamin Wallace has an interesting family of children:
Jesse Alb ert Wallace
Married - Mollie Tadlock
Married - Sue Tadlock
John A. Wallace
Married - Mary Ferguson
Isaac Abraham Wallace - born 1841
Married - Nancy McDonald
David Wallace
Married - America McDonald
Samuel Wallace
Married - Jennie (unknown)
James Anderson Wallace
Married - Fannie Bell Darnell
Ann Wallace
Married - David McGill
Margaret Wallace
Married - J. A. N. Patterson
Martha Wallace
Married - William Clift
William Wallace
Lorella Wallace
Died unmarried
Tennessee
Cousins
Joseph
Ruohs
The son of Ulrich and Marie Ruohs, was born near Lake Zurich, Switzerland, Dec. 8, 1823.
He died in Chattanooga Feb. 28, 1907.
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.
His six children were:
Joseph Morris, who died young
Mary, who married John B. Pyron
Josephine, who died young
Nancy Harriet, who lives in Chattanooga
Emma Elizabeth, who died young
Irene Virginia, who married Gustavus Henry Jarnagin and lives in Chattanooga
History of Hamilton County
Noah
S. Richie, M. D.
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.
Tennessee
the Volunteer State 17691923: Volume 2
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