This Official Site of The TNGenWeb and USGenWeb Projects is
Giles County, Tennessee
Bass Biographies
A. F. BASS [of Lincoln County], merchant at McDowell's Mills, was born in Giles County February 7, 1854, and was one of three children of Farmington and Naomi Bass, born in Giles County, Tenn., in
1818 and 1817, and died in 1884 and 1876, respectively. They were married about 1840, and
the father followed farming through life. Our subject received such education and rearing
as is usually given a farmer's boy, and in 1881 he and Janey Bennett were united in
marriage. Mrs. Bass was born in Giles County in 1860, and is a member of the Christian
Church. After his marriage, Mr. Bass farmed for two years, and then began merchandising at
Bunker's Hill, remaining one year. In 1885 he located at McDowell's Mills, where he keeps
an excellent general merchandise store, and is doing a paying business. He takes an active
part in all laudable enterprises and is doing much toward improving and building up the
place. He gives his support to the Democratic party. (Lincoln County Goodspeeds Biographies, 1886)
STERLING HICKS BASS. A prominent attorney of Munford [Tipton County], who had the distinction of serving as this community's first mayor, is Sterling Hicks Bass. A native of Tennessee, he was born at Melville [Hamilton County], on the 18th of December, 1876, a son of Patrick Henry and Frances Fredonia (Abernathy) Bass. The paternal grandfather, James Hicks Bass, was general of the state militia of Giles, Lincoln and Washington counties. The maternal grandfather was Sterling Abernathy. Patrick Henry Bass was born in 1845 and died in 1910. He served throughout the Civil war in the Confederate army and participated in most of the strategic battles of that conflict. His wife was born in 1847.
In the acquirement of his early education Sterling Hicks Bass attended the public schools of
Lauderdale county and subsequently enrolled in the Webb School at Bellbuckle, where he
graduated with honors in 1898. In 1901 he entered the University of Chicago and from that
institution returned to Munford, where he taught school for four years. In 1904 he was elected
cashier of the Munford Savings Bank and in his spare time he took up the study of law. He proved
an able and brilliant student and in 1910 was admitted to the bar. Since that time he has been
active in the legal circles of Munford and has won for himself an enviable position among the
foremost members of the profession in Tipton county. Mr. Bass soon won the confldence and
esteem of his fellow citizens and in 1905 he was elected mayor of Munford, being the first to
serve in that official capacity. He gave to this community a businesslike and progressive
administration, inaugurating and completing many movements for the upbuilding of the civic
welfare. He has likewise been alderman.
At Munford, in 1902, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Bass to Miss Bessle Lee Wooten, who
was born in 1887 and died in 1904. Subsequently Mr. Bass was again married, Miss Mamie
Beachboard becoming his wife, the ceremony being performed in Bellbuckle. The second Mrs. Bass died in 1913, in her thirty-eighth year. On the 20th of March, 1914, Mr. Bass married Miss Lillian Thornburgh, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Thornburgh. Mr. Bass is the father of seven children: Sterling, whose birth occurred in 1906; David, born in 1909; Mary, born in 1910; Benjamin, whose
birth occurred in 1913; Bronson, born in 1915; Nathan, born in 1917; and Paul Colston, whose
birth occurred in 1921.
Since attaining his majority Mr. Bass has given his political allegiance to the democratic party and
the principles for which it stands. For some time he has been secretary of the county democratic
committee. The religious faith of the Bass family is that of the Methodist church, to the support of
which Mr. Bass is a generous contributor. Fraternally he is a Master Mason and a member of the
Banevolent Protective Order of Elks. During the years of his residence in Munford Mr. Bass has
wielded a great influence for good in this community. He has an ambition for higher and better
things for his town, county and state, and he is ever seeking to improve conditions. (Tennessee, The Volunteer State, 1769-1923, Vol. 3, John Trotwood Moore and Austin P. Foster, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1923, pp. 378-9)
Return to
Index to Biographies
Histories and Biographies
Giles Co, TNGenWeb
Copyright 2000, 2001 TNGenNet, Inc. and submitter(s).
