E-G Goodspeed's
Biographical Sketches of
Dekalb County, Tennessee
E. J. Evans, commercial traveler for Weel, Connell & Riddle, dry goods, shoes,
clothing, etc., Nashville, was born in 1850 in the District of Columbia, and now resident of
Smithville. He is the son of John G. and Lucinda (Vick) Evans. The father,
born in 1819, in Dekalb County, Tenn., is the son of Joseph Evans, a native of Maryland,
who, when a boy, came to Tennessee and settled where Liberty, Dekalb County, is located,
among the very earliest white settlers. John G. had learned the carpenter trade under
his father, and after his marriage in 1844, he settled in Liberty. In 1861 he moved to Dry
Creek, and in 1881 to Smithville, where he was elected to his present position of register in
1866. His wife, born in 1822, in Dekalb County, is still living. Our subject, educated in
Liberty, began reading law in 1872 under Hon. J. B. Robinson, and was admitted in 1873.
The following year he was elected county clerk of Dekalb County, and served one term. In 1879
he established a dry goods store in Smithville, and after two years sold out and became
traveling salesman for Settle & Kinnard, and two years later for Pigg, Manier & Co., then
twelve months after for Tracy & Co., with whom he remained until he was employed by his
present firm. In August, 1875, he married Virginia, daughter of Watson and
Sarah webb, and born in Warren County. Their children are Sherrell J., Herschel,
and Sarah. Mr. Evans has two residences, three store buildings and a
livery stable in Smithville. He is a fine salesman and business man. In politics he is a
Republican, and is a member of the K. of H. order. His wife is a member of the Baptist Church.
Capt. J. T. Exum, merchant, was born December 4, 1842, in Smith County, Tenn. He
is the son of Kinchen D. and Elizabeth (Allen) Exum, the former born in 1821,
in Smith County, and the latter in 1821, in Wilson County. His grandfather, William a
native of North Carolina, was one of the earliest pioneers of Smith County, where he died.
Reared on a farm, our subject was educated at Cumberland Institute, in White County, and soon
enlisted in the Federal Army as private, then corporal, then second lieutenant and recruiting
officer for the Fifth Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry. He was soon promoted to first lieutenant,
and in 1862 was made captain at Nashville. In March, 1865, he resigned his commission and for
about two years was engaged in merchandising at Laurell Hill, Tenn. Then after about seven
years in Buffalo Valley, Putnam County, in the same business, he was made United States
storekeeper and gauger for the Fifth Internal Revenue District. In 1881 he was deputy United
States marshal, under Marshal Tillman, and a year later was appointed United States
commissioner for the middle district of Tennessee, but resigned in 1883. For four years
previous to 1884 he was chairman of the Republican Executive Committee of the Fourth
congressional District. After a year's travel in the West he returned to Dekalb in 1886 and
engaged in merchandising for a short time. In 1868 he married M. S. Maddox,who died
in 1876, in which year their two children, James R. and John D. died also. In
1882 he married Alice McDonald, who lived but about seven months after. She was a
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Mr. Exum is a Republican and a member
of the I. O. O. F. Lodge.
T. W. Fitts, a farmer and stock dealer of the Tenth District, was born March 4,
1832, in Smith County. He is the youngest of six children of Wootson and Tabitha
(Winfrey) Fitts. The father was born in 1787, near Halifax, Va. He was lieutenant of
a company in the war of 1812, was under command of Gen. Jackson at New Orleans; he came
to Tennessee about 1822, and died near Eddyville, Ky., about 1850. The mother was born about
1787 near Petersburg, Va., and came to Tennessee after her marriage. Our subject had but
limited educational advantages, but is a man of good practical understanding and business
qualifications. In 1840 he married Miss Isabell Foster, who was born about 1812. She
is still active and robust. To this union eight children were born of whom six are still
living: Sanford(deceased); Jasper Newton; Durinda, now Mrs Taylor;
Golden; Nancy, afterward Mrs Winfrey(deceased); Delia now
Mrs. Williams; Sarah, now Mrs. Hayes, and Martin. Mr. Fitts
and children are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. The first year after
marriage Mr. Fitts rented; he then bought an old Soldier's right to 640 acres; the
following year he purchased 200 more, and finally became owner of 1,300 acres of excellent
land. Besides what he has given his family, he still has 1,000 acres, cultivated and improved,
located in Cove Hollow, on the Smithville and Temperance Hall road, three miles east of the
latter place. He has always been a successful farmer and stock raiser, and made money rapidly,
but has had security debts to settle, amounting to about $10,000. He has traveled quite
extensively through thirteen States of the Union. He met with a severe accident before the
war, which prevented him from entering the service. While riding a race horse, the animal
fell, dashing Mr. Fitts' head against a rock. Thirteen pieces of bone were taken from
his forehead by Dr. Gray of Nashville, who received $1,000 for the operation. Although
Mr. Fitts is not a church member, no man in the community has contributed more liberally
to religious institutions and charity. He built and donated on church, and has given two
building sites for others. During the war he supported seven families besides his own. He
lost considerable stock and $8,000 in Confederate money. He has owned some of the most famous
horses inn the country. He raised "Dock Alvin," "Tom Hal," "Elizabeth Hill," and partially
raised "Queen Ariel." He paid $1,000 for "Elizabeth Johnson" in Utah. When only two years old
she won a famous race in Mississippi.
Hon. J. J. Ford, attorney at law, was born in Dekalb (then Smith) County November
22, 1822. He is one of ten children of Daniel and Mary (Fite) Ford, the former
of Irish origin. The father, born about 1794 in South Carolina, was the son of Daniel
Ford, Sr., of Virginia, who became one of the earliest settlers of Tennessee, when
Daniel, Jr., was but a small boy. He settled in Smith County near what is now Temperance
Hall, where he remained until his death. With ordinary education in his youth, Daniel,
Jr., married about 1818 and spent his life in Smith and Dekalb Counties. He was an able
man and served as magistrate and constable several years. He died in 1864. The mother, a
native of tennessee and of Dutch descent, died in 1836. She was a daughter of Rev. J.
Fite, an early Tennessee settler from New Jersey, who spent the early years of his
settlement in a cane tent on Smith Fork, and who with his brother cut a road through the
cane to Nashville. He made some money by dealing in the skin and flesh of bears. He was a
Baptist minister for nearly sixty years and a historic character of early Tennessee. With
no educational advantages our subject began the blacksmith trade when fifteen years old, and,
when of age, purchased the property of his overseer and continued until 1859, having in the
meantime served as magistrate six years. He was elected to the memorable General Assembly of
1859-60, in which he so distinguished himself that Judge R. Caruthers and other able
jurists persuaded him to enter his present profession, in which he has since so well succeeded.
He is the oldest practitioner in Alexandria. He again represented Dekalb County and in 1877-78
Dekalb, Wilson and Trousdale Counties, making in all seven sessions. He is one of the foremost
criminal lawyers with a practice second to none, extending into all the adjacent counties,
Nashville, Tuscumbia, Alabama and Cincinnati, Ohio. For eight years he was an equal partner
with Judge Cottrell, of Lebanon, and is an able and honorable man. In March, 1846, he
married Mary E., daughter of Aaron and Sarah M. Botts, natives of North
Carolina and among the earliest settlers of Tennessee. Mr. Ford, although sixty-five
years of age, has the vigor of his earlier life, a fact which he attributes to his care of
himself and abstinence from liquor and tobacco. Always an active Democrat, his first vote was
for Clay. Of considerable wealth, he owns 500 acres, 100 of which are in Wilson County.
Mrs. Ford is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
H. D. Foust, of Foust & Jones, carriage manufacturers at Alexandria, was
born in Wilson County in 1845, a son of William E. and Betsey (Luster) Foust.
The father, born in Wilson County about 1818, was the son of William Foust, a native of
Germany. William E. was married in 1844, and was all his life a blacksmith and carriage
manufacturer in his native county. He was sheriff of the county four terms. The mother was
born in the same county about 1829, and both were members of the Missionary Baptist Church.
Educated at Lebanon, our subject at fifteen entered Company A, in the Forty-fifth Tennessee
Infantry, and operated in the extreme South for about eighteen months, when, under the
conscription act, he was rejected on account of age. He then returned home, and soon after
joined Gen Forrest's command, and afterward Gen. Morgan's on his Indiana and Ohio
raid, but was captured on reaching the Ohio River. He was soon recaptured, and went home and
south to join Gen. Wheeler at Dalton, Ga., with whom he remained until his surrender at
Raleigh, N. C., and then returned home. In December , 1865, he married Catherine,
daughter of W. A. Robinson of Lebanon, where she was born in 1844. Their six children
are living: William E., Jr., Bettie, Henry D., Malinda, John L. and Etta.
Mrs. Foust, died in 1880, and in 1881 he married Mary J. Lannon. They have one
child, Lillian. Mr. Foust was a blacksmith and carriage-maker at Lebanon for
several years, when after some time in Shop-Springs he removed to Alexandria and entered the
present firm, which is the only large enterprise of the kind in the county. For seven years
M. Foust was marshal of Lebanon. He is a firm Democrat, first voting for Seymour
. He and his wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. His first
wife and two children were members of the Missionary Baptist Church.
Hon. John A. Fuson, an eminent practicing physician and surgeon of the Fourth
District, was born in 1815, in Champaign County, Ohio. He is the third of seven children
(three living) of James and Martha (Sneed) Fuson, both of whom were natives of
Patrick County, Va. The father was of English descent, born in 1792. Two years after
marriage he moved to Champaign County, Ohio, where he engaged in farming, occasionally
preaching. He died in 1863. The mother was of French origin, born about 1795, and died in
1885. The subject of this sketch received a limited education in the common schools of his
native county, remaining with his parents until he was twenty-two, when he came to Tennessee,
and settled at Alexandria, Dekalb County, where for three years he studied medicine under
direction of Dr. Thomas J. Sneed, at the expiration of which time he began practicing
at Liberty, in 1842. In 1847 he married Martha L., Daughter of John W. and
Lucy W. (Flowers) Allen, near Rome, Smith County. Mrs Fuson was born in White
County, in 1826, and became mother of eleven children. The eight surviving ones are
James; Lucy Jane,Wife of Chas. McCaverty of West Virginia; John A.;
Elizabeth, Wife of Isaac N. Fite; George M.; Wm. Francis; Josephine, Wife of
Chas. Williams, and Joseph Benjamin. In 1856 the Doctor purchased a farm in the
Fourth District of Dekalb County, and moved his family there. He has always had an extensive
patronage; is one of the most skillful and popular practitioners in the section. He has
accumulated considerable property and wealth, but has lost heavily by security debts. He owns
300 acres of well cultivated and improved land. His son, William Francis, is now taking
a large portion of practice off the Doctor's hands, and has been successful and prosperous. In
1854 the Doctor was elected to represent Dekalb County in the General Assembly of 1855-56. He
was elected in 1865, for 1865-66. He was senator for Dekalb and Wilson Counties one term. His
official career was satisfactory and highly creditable. He was the author of the Small
Offense law. Previous to the war he was a Whig, casting his first presidential vote for Wm.
H. Harrison in 1840. He was a stanch Union man, and now a Republican. He and his wife are
members of the Missionary Baptist Church, and the five eldest children are Methodists.
Pat Geraty, a merchant of Dowelltown, was born in 1832 at Castle Bar, County Mio,
Ireland. He is one of six surviving children of a family of nine born to John and
Catherine (Conway) Geraghty. The father was born in 1795, same place where Pat
first saw the light. Early in life he was a carpenter, afterward a farmer. He died about
1880, in the vicinity in which he had always lived. The mother was born about 1798, in the
same county, at Clare, and died in 1883. Our subject was educated in the common schools of
his childhood's home. After attaining his majority he came to America, landing in New York,
where for six or eight months he lived in the suburbs. He then went to Canada; for six months
he was engaged in farming. He move to Rock Island, Ill., in 1857, and became a United States
soldier, serving as such eight years. In the late civil war he was in Company G, Fourth
United States Cavalry. He took part in the famous battles of Perryville, Murfreesboro, Lookout
Mountain, Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta and in numerous skirmishes. He was honorably discharged
at Gravely Springs, Ala., March 13, 1865, from the army in which he had so bravely fought for
the preservation of the stars and stripes. He was very much enfeebled in health, from the
hardships and exposures common to a soldier's life, and remained delicate several years.
Immediately after the restoration of peace, he established himself in the mercantile business
in Clear Forks, Cannon County, Tenn., where he remained fourteen years, when he sold out and
moved to Dowelltown, again embarking in the same business. About 1870 he married Sally
Melissa, daughter of John and Julia (Knights) Hale, of Cannon County. Mr.
Geraty is a selfmade Man; he landed in New York without a penny, but a stout heart and
firm determination. He now owns a valuable farm of sixty acres at Dowelltown, and his store
has a first-class stock, valued at about $3,500. He is a worthy citizen, and much respected.
He is a Republican, and cast his first presidential vote for A. Lincoln, in 1864. He is
a member of the G. A. R., Floyd Post, No. 16. He is a Roman Catholic, and his wife a
Missionary Baptist.
Prof. H. L. W. Gross, Principal of the Masonic Normal School, Alexandria, and the
associate principal, Prof. James L. Boon, are well and favorably known throughout the
country. Prof. Gross is the son of Milton and Clara P. C. (Lincoln) Gross
, and a native of White County. The father was of German descent, Born in Sullivan County,
Tenn., and a son of Jacob Gross, a native of North Carolina and pioneer settler of
Sullivan County, where he was engaged in farming and gunsmithing. He died about 1880. His
widow, who is ninety-five years of age, enjoys the best of health, is robust and vigorous as a
young woman, and never had a serious illness in her life. Milton went to Sparta when
about eighteen years of age, and engaged in the saddler's trade. He married about 1838, and
died about 1854. His wife was born in Hardy County (now West),Va., in 1815, is still living
at Sparta, where he received his early education. After attending Buritt College at Spencer,
lacking only a term of five months, finishing the course, and two years' teaching in Alexandria
, he entered the Vanderbilt University course in English. He returned to Alexandria and
entered upon the duties of his present position, which he has discharged to the satisfaction
of all, winning the confidence and esteem of the community. In 1886 he made an extended tour
through the North for mental improvement. He attended the two weeks' session of the eminent
Dr. Parker's, and visited the Cincinnati schools. He is a Democrat, and for fourteen
years has been a faithful member of the Christian Church.
Return to Goodspeed's History of Dekalb County
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