Biographies
J. C. Abernathy, a prominent, practicing physician, of Rhea Springs, was born March 30, 1824 at Morganton, Blount Co., Tenn. He is the eldest living of six children of Rev. Berry and Myra (Cobb) Abernathy. At the time of the religious persecution in Scotland three Abernathy brothers came to Virginia and located in the Jamestown Settlement. Rev. Berry Abernathy is a direct descendant of one of the brothers. He was born on the Catawba River, North Carolina. He moved to Blount County, Tenn., when about twenty-five years of age. Shortly afterward he was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church South by Bishop Asbury. He was a man of fair education for his day, and taught school in connection with his ministerial duties. He was one of the most popular and influential ministers of his day. He died November 6, 1870 on his eighty-sixth birthday.
The mother, who is still living, is daughter of Archibald Cobb. She was married in 1817, at the age of thirteen.
Four sons and four daughters were born to this union. Our subject remained with his father until he attained his majority. During his boyhood he attended school at Morganton, and afterward at Maryville College. He studied medicine under Dr. E. Collins. of Pinbook Landing, Meigs County. He graduated in the medical department of the University of Nashville. With the exception of some months during the Rebellion, he has practiced at his present location.
In the fall of 1862 he enlisted in the Confederate service, In the Sixty- second Tennessee Infantry, as surgeon. He remained on active duty as long as his health would permit. He returned home and took the oath of allegiance.
He Is a member of the Baptist Church, a Royal Arch Mason, and a Democrat. He is a firm supporter of all laudably enterprises, and is a worthy citizen. January 30, 1845 he married Nancy A., daughter of Young L. and Barbara M. Bicknell. She was born August 15, 1829. at Madisonville, Monroe Co., Tenn. Their union resulted in the birth of nine children. of whom but two are living: Young L. and John A. Mrs. Abernathy is a lady possessing a very good English education, and although not connected with any denomination, is a believer in the Presbyterian doctrine.
Maj. William G. Allen, a stirring citizen of Rhea County. and a resident of Dayton, is a native of Alabama, born in that State October 21, 1836. He is the son of Valentine and Ann (Frazier) Allen, both of Scotch-Irish descent. The father's ancestors were early settlers of South Carolina, but he was born in Bedford County, Tenn., July 19, 1809, is still living, and is a resident of Dayton. He is seventy-eight years of age. The mother was born in Rhea County Tenn.. in September, 1815, and is still living in Dayton. They were married in Rhea County, in December, 1835, at the home of the bride's father, Beriah Frazier, and soon after moved to Alabama, and settled at Larkinsyille, Jackson County, where they resided until the year 1840.
The father at this time took part in the Seminole war. In 1840 they immigrated to Mississippi, and settled in Tishomingo County, and two years later, on account of the feeble health of the wife, they returned to Rhea County, where they made a permanent settlement. The father has been engaged in agricultural pursuits, and has been rather successful. In his political views he is a Democrat, and served over two years in the Confederate States service, during the late civil war. He was captured in Rhea County, and spent two months in the Nashville penitentiary and two months in the Louisville penitentiary. The remainder of the two years he passed in Camp Chase, Ohio. He, with his wife and all the children, are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.
Our subject is the eldest of eight children, of whom there were seven sons and one daughter. Our subject secured a good academic education in his youth. and farming has been his chief occupation in life. He began life for himself as a farm hand, and in 1855 settled on a farm, as a renter, in the Seventh Civil District, it being four years before he was able to own & small farm. In 1859 he purchased a farm of 100 acres at a cost of $1,500, and here began a singularly prosperous life. In December of the same year he married Miss Mary E. Thomison, a native of Roanoke County. Va., born July 20, 1837. and the daughter of William P. and Nancy J. Thomison, who immigrated to Rhea County in 1843. The marriage of our subject and wife resulted in the birth of four children, two sons and two daughters: John G., born March 3, 1866, Edward M., born March 3, 1869 (both born the same month and same day); Mary E., born December 10, 1875, and Winnie G., born December 16, 1878.
In the spring of 1861 he entered the Confederate Army, enlisting in Company D, Fifth Tennessee Regiment. Col. J. G. M. Montgomery being captain of the company, and G. W. McKenzie, colonel. He enlisted as a private, and was made adjutant of the Fifth Regiment in 1862. He received seven wounds during the war, the first at Richmond. Ky.. the second at Bardstown. Ky.. and three at Chickamauga Creek. one through the left breast, one through the left arm and one through the right leg. He was also wounded at Buckhorn Bridge, below Atlanta. Ga., and at Bentonville, N. C. He returned home to Rhea County in May, 1865, after an absence of over four years, and resumed his agricultural pursuits.
In 1860 he was duly elected trustee of Rhea County, and was also made a deputy register, filling both offices until he resigned to enlist in the war, where for gallant conduct during the battle of Chickamauga be was made major.
Hon. Valentine C. Allen. an eminent lawyer of Dayton, is a native of Mississippi, born in Tippah County September 2, 1842. His parents, Valentine and Ann (Frazier) Allen, were both of Scotch-Irish descent. The father was a native of Kentucky, born July 13, 1809; is still living. The mother was born in Knox County. Tenn.. in 1814. and is still living. They were married in Rhea County, Tenn., January 19, 1836, and with the exception of the four years that they lived in Alabama, soon after marriage, and one year in Mississippi, have made Rhea County their home ever since.
The father was a farmer and a decided Democrat in his political views, casting his first vote for James K. Polk for Congress. He and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Our subject is one of eight children, seven of whom are still living. He assisted on the farm and secured a liberal education in Rhea County.
In April, 1862, he entered the Confederate service, enlisting in Company D. Fifth Tennessee Cavalry: J. G. M. Montgomery being captain of the company, and G. W. McKenzie, colonel of the regiment. In the following June, on account of ill health, he returned home and remained two months. In September following he joined the Third Tennessee Infantry, Col. N. J. Lillard. served with Company I the remainder of the war, and surrendered at Washington, Ga.. May 9. 1805. In the fall of the same year he commenced the study of law under Judge Frank Locke, of Rhea County, and in November, 1866, he obtained license to practice. and since that time to the present his name has been on the roll of Tennessee attorneys.
February 13, 1866, he wedded Miss Emma King,a t native of Meigs County. born February 13, 1845. She is the daughter of Dr. Aaron and Jane (Lillard) King. The fruits of this union are five children, a]l living - one son and four daughters.
Nicholas Q. Allen, a lawyer of Rhea County, and a resident of Darwin, was born in Rhea County April 17, 1830, son of Valentine and Ann (Frazier) Allen. For further particulars of parents see sketch of V.C. Allen. Our subject is one of a large family of children. He received his primary education in the common schools, and subsequently attended the Academy at Decatur, Meigs County. He first. followed agricultural pursuits on his father's plantation, and afterward selected the law for his profession. In the fall of 1872. he entered the law department of the Cumberland University at Lebanon, but on account of failing health was obliged to retire from the class before graduation. He afterward completed his studies in the office of an elder brother, V. C. Allen, of Dayton, Tenn. In June, l878, he obtained license to practice. and since that date has followed his profession in Tennessee.
September 2, 1875, he married Miss Susan C. Paine, daughter of Orville Paine. who at one time was an influential citizen of Rhea County. He was of Irish extraction. The result of our subject's marriage was the birth of two daughters: Kittie M., born July 9. 1876. and Helen B., born November 1,1882. Mr. Allen is a decided Democrat, and a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, having served the church as steward for the last six years, and has been sent as a delegate to several annual conferences. Mrs. Allen is a member of the same church.
In 1885-86 our subject was chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee of the Third Congressional District. In 1884 he was commissioned special chancellor by Gov. Bate, to hold the chancery court of Bledsoe and Sequatchie Counties. He is a man of commanding appearance, being six feet and three inches in height. He is a stanch Prohibitionist, and is doing much to aid the cause. In May, 1893, he located at Darwin, having commenced the practice of law at Washington ten years previous.
John W. Angel, an enterprising citizen, and the owner of the saw and planing mills formerly owned by a company, called the Spring City Saw and Planning Mill Company, was born In Missouri, September 22nd 1841, and is the son of Edmund and Margaret(Falkner)Angel. The father was born in North Carolina, in 1811, and is now a resident of Sparta, White Co., Tenn. He learned the wheel wright and wagon-maker's trade in his native state, and after marriage he moved to Missouri, where he purchased land and was engaged in farming, which he followed in connection with his trade. He is a member of the Baptist Church, and a Republican in politics. The mother was also born in North Carolina. and died in Cumberland County, Tenn., in 1868, at the age of forty-four. She was a member of the Baptist Church. Four of their six children are now living.
Our subject received a liberal education in White and Cumberland Counties. June 20, 1863, he married Miss Mary Barnard, a native of North Carolina. born in 1842, and member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. This union resulted in the birth of six children now living: Margaret, William C., James W., Edward C., Sallie and Lizzie. Our subject learned the blacksmith's trade in White County, and worked at this for about fifteen years in Cumberland and White Counties, and made his start while working at this trade. He then moved to Spring City and engaged In the saw mill business with the Spring City Saw and Planing Mill Company as a partner. In January, 1887, he purchased the other shares.
He employed eighteen hands, and the capacity is about 18,000 feet per day. He is also engaged in farming, and owns 200 acres of land. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, is a Mason, and a Republican in politics. He was appointed sheriff of Rhea County, by Gov. Brownlow, but would not accept the position.
William B. Benson, a prominent citizen of Dayton, and chief clerk in the Coal and Iron Company, was born in Rhea county, June 4, 1844, and is a son of Bartley S. and Lina (Riddle) Benson. Our subject is the youngest of seven children, and secured by his own efforts a good education in his youth. He lost his parents when but a child, and found himself forced to make his way in life by his own efforts. He began as a farm hand, and worked three years in Hamilton at $4 per month. In 1857 he came to Rhea County and with his only surviving brother, James Benson, rented a farm where North Dayton is now standing, and was engaged in farming up to the fall of 1861, at which time he went to Kentucky and entered the Federal Army, remaining in service up to the latter part of 1864. In 1863 he was captured at Rogersville, Tenn., and sent as a prisoner of war to Richmond, VA, where he remained four months. He then was sent to Andersonville prison, Georgia, and in May, 1864, made his escape by deceiving the guard. After a tedious and tiresome journey of nearly thirty days he reached Chattanooga and rejoined his old regiment at Knoxville in June, 1864, and was mustered out of service in December of the same year, and came back to what was then Smith's Cross Roads, but now Dayton. In 1865, he, in partnership with J.P. Walker, established a store of general merchandise, and continued twenty months with Walker, then bought him out and continued the same business. December 14, 1869, he married Miss Julia A. Collins, a native of Rhea County, born in 1847, and the daughter of Henry Collins. Mr. Benson is not a member of any church, but his wife and two daughters are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Our subject enjoys the distinction of being the oldest merchant now in Dayton. For twenty consecutive years he was postmaster at Dayton, and he secured the change of names from Smith's Cross roads to Dayton. In 1886 he went to Texas and established a cattle ranch in Stephens county, and is still interested in this enterprise. He soon afterward entered the employ of the Dayton Coal and Iron Company, and is now chief clerk of the store.
Alfred C. Blevins, M. D., a well-known and practicing physician of Dayton, Rhea County, is a native of East Tennessee, born in what was then Rhea (but now Meigs) County, May 27,1831. His parents, James Blevins and Ruth (Rockhold) Blevins, were of English and Irish descent respectively, and both were natives of Sullivan County, Tenn. The father was born in 1808, and died in Meigs County in 1845. The mother was born February 29, 1808, is still living and makes her home with the subject of this sketch. They were married in Rhea County (Meigs County having been cut off since) in 1826 and passed the remainder of his life in that county. The father was in early life a blacksmith, and afterward gave his attention exclusively to farming. He was a Democrat in his political views, and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, of which his wife is a worthy member. Our subject is the second of nine children, seven of whom are still living. He assisted his father on the plantation during his father's lifetime, and secured a liberal education in his youth. At the age of twenty-one he began the study of medicine by studying under Dr. John M. Lillard, of Decatur, Meigs County. After reading one year he went to Washington, Rhea County, and here he continued to read medicine under Dr. John Hoyal. He remained at Washington about three years, and in the meantime, in the fall of 1859, he went to the Medical University of Nashville, Tenn. and attended his first course of lectures. In the fall of 1860 he went back, and in the spring of the following year he duly received his diploma as Doctor of Medicine. July 4, of the same year, he enlisted as first lieutenant of Company E. Twenty-sixth Tennessee Regiment of Infantry, Confederate States Army. John Crawford was captain of the company, and John M. Lillard was colonel of the regiment. He served twelve months in the field, and was then made assistant surgeon of the Forty-third Tennessee Regiment , of which Dr. James W. Gillespie was colonel. About twelve months later he was made chief surgeon of the Third Tennessee Regiment, and served his country in that capacity until the close of the war. He returned home in July, 1865, after four year's service. In the fall of 1865 he located five miles southwest of Decatur, and began practicing his profession. In the fall of 1868 he purchased the old homestead, and moved upon it the next year, where he continued the practice of medicine in connection with the farming interest up to 1883, at which time he moved with his family to Dayton, and soon entered upon a large practice. In May 1871, he married Miss Virginia Catharine Chatten, a native of Meigs county, born November 10, 1851. this union resulted in the birth of four children --three sons and one daughter. Dr. Blevins is a Democrat in politics, and his wife is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church. Our subject enjoys the distinction of being the man who started to build up and improve the now prosperous town of Dayton.
William F. Blevins, a well-known, enterprising merchant of Darwin Station, Rhea County, was born in Meigs County, October 27, 1835, and is a son of James and Ruth (Rockhold) Blevins. [For further particulars of parents see sketch of A. C. Blevins.] Our subject is one of nine children. He received a common school education, and worked on his father's farm up to the breaking out of the late war. In July, 1862, he entered the Confederate service, enlisting in the Fifth Tennessee Cavalry, the captain of the company being W. W. Lillard. Our subject took part in the battles of Perryville, Ky., and Chickamauga Creek, and the Georgia campaign from Dalton to Atlanta, etc. He returned home in the spring of 1865 after an absence of nearly three years. He was second lieutenant of his company. After the war he read law, obtained license to practice but abandoned the profession for mercantile pursuits. For a few years he clerked for his brothers, but afterward entered the business for himself; during all this time he was in Decatur, Meigs County. In 1870 he was appointed clerk and master of the chancery court of Meigs County, and served six years; he was re-appointed to the same office in 1876 and again served six years. He was first appointed to that position by Chancellor D. M. Key, and the second time by Chancellor William M. Bradford. May 11, 1871, he married Miss Mary E. Russell, a native of Meigs County, born September 7, 1842, and this marriage resulted in the birth of four children -- two sons and two daughters, one son being deceased. The children are named as follows: Ethel, born December 8, 1872; Braxton b., born April 27, 1876; William B., born August 12, 1878 and died October 28, 1883; and Daisy May, born December 2, 1881. In the early part of 1883 Mr. Blevins moved to Darwin Station, having purchased a dwelling, a store-house and a remnant stock of goods the previous December. Since that time he has been engaged in merchandising. He is a Democrat in his political views, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.
Polk Brown, an enterprising merchant of Spring City, Rhea Co., Tenn., is a native of that city, born April 21, 1845, and is the son of W. F. and Amanda (Renfro) Brown. The father was born in Roane County, Tenn., in 1804, and died in the same county in 1869. He was a farmer and trader, and was a very prominent man in Roane and adjoining counties. He was often urged by friends to be a candidate for office, but would never allow his name to be used in that way. He had a fine business education, was a Mason, and a Democrat in politics. He began life with very little means, but before his death had accumulated quite a fortune. The mother was also a native of Roane County, Tenn., born in 1816, is now living, and a resident of Rhea Springs, Rhea Co., Tenn. She has an excellent education, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Of their twelve children seven are now living. Our subject was educated at Oak Springs and Kingston Academy. In the spring of 1861, he enlisted in Company I, Twenty-sixth Tennessee Infantry (Confederate State Army), and served with much credit until the surrender. He was in numerous battles, among which were the battle of Chickamauga, Fort Donelson, and the famous retreat from Dalton, GA., to Atlanta. He was taken with the rest of the company, which was captured at Fort Donelson, to Camp Morton, Indianapolis, and was retained as a prisoner seven months. After this he enlisted in Company A, of the Sixteenth Tennessee Battalion. As a spy he went through the Federal lines five different times. and was taken prisoner while on one of these trips, but escaped six days afterward by cutting through one of the out-houses. At Chickamauga he had charge of a company (as its captain), but afterward refused to act in that capacity on account of age. After the war he finished his education and turned his attention to farming and stock raising. He afterward removed to Rhea Springs, and engaged in merchandising. Two years later he went to Roddy, Rhea County and after trading in stock for six years moved to Spring City, and has since been engaged in the mercantile and real estate businesses, stock raising and farming. He has also been urged to accept the nomination of Senator in the counties of Rhea, Cumberland, Morgan, White, Sequatchie, Monroe and Van Buren. He is a Democrat, and a Royal Arch Mason. In April, 1867, he married Miss Mary Roddy, a native of Roddy, Rhea County, and a daughter of D. M. and Elizabeth Roddy. Her birth occurred January 1, 1847. She secured a fine education at Athens and Chattanooga, and is a member of the Baptist Church. This union resulted in the birth of two daughters: Florence B. and Mary E.
Sanders D. Broyles, a well-known and influential citizen of Rhea County, Tenn., and a resident of Dayton is a native of East Tennessee, born in McMinn County February 15, 1824. His parents were Cornelius and Polly (Farley) Broyles. The father was a native of East Tennessee, born in Washington County about 1786, and died in Rhea County in 1861. He was of German descent, his grandfather having come from Germany to America at an early day. The mother was a North Carolinian by birth, and was a few years older than her husband. She died in Rhea County about 1870, at the advanced age of ninety. They were married in White County, Tenn., about 1814, and after living in that county a few years moved to McMinn County, where they resided until the fall of 1839, at which time they came to Rhea County, and there passed the remainder of their days. The father was a farmer, an old line Whig, and a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. His father, Daniel Broyles, served three years in the Revolutionary war, enlisting at the age of fifteen years. Our subject is the fifth of seven children. He secured by his own efforts a common-school education in Rhea County. He followed agricultural pursuits on his father's plantation in Tennessee and this occupation has been his life-long employment. In October, 1848, at the age of twenty-five, he married Miss Delilah Compton, a native of Rhea County, born in 1818, and settled in that county as renters, and it was nine years before they owned a home of their own. In 1857 he purchased a farm in the Eighth Civil District of Rhea County, and moved to it in January of the next year. This farm then contained about 300 acres. This has been the home of our subject ever since. His residence at that time was near what was known as Smith's Cross Roads, which consisted of a post office and two dwellings. Since that time the name has been changed to Dayton, and the town has about 3,000 inhabitants. Our subject has been a stirring, energetic man, and now owns upward of of 250 acres, a portion of which lies in the suburbs of Dayton. In the fall of 1862 he entered the Confederate States Army and served three years and four days with credit. He then returned home and resumed his farming interest. He and wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and of the family of six children born to them all are living but one son.