A GENEALOGICAL SCRAPBOOK OF THE WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER,
PARIS, TENNESSEE 1866-1881

By Jonathan Kennon Thompson Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 2004

THE WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER

(Page 1)

1866

April 20, 1866

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of THOMAS H. CONWAY, dec., notified to file them with Henry County Court Clerk on or before October 17, 1866.

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of DAVID M. MANN, dec., notified to file them with the Henry County Court Clerk on or by June 1, 1866.

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of R. W. JANES, dec., notified to file them with Henry County Court Clerk on or by May 16, 1866.

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of EDWARD H. PALMER, dec. notified to file them with the Henry County Court Clerk on or by May 10, 1866.

MARY wife of Jesse C. COOPER died near Paris, Tenn., April 18, 1866. [Burial in Paris city cemetery with tombstone: MARY H., consort of J. C. COOPER Born Feb. 10, 1822 Died April 18, 1866]

IN CHANCERY AT PARIS,
January Rules, 1866,
Am’d Bill:
Samuel B. Neal & Wife et als.
vs.
Ira McFarland & Wife et als.

ON MOTION -- It appearing to the satisfaction of the clerk and master from the statements of the original bill, which is sworn to in this case, that, John H. King and Wife, Sarah Ann, Albert Chandler, John Chandler, and ___ Wells, and Emeline B. his Wife, six of the defendants, are non-residents of the State of Tennessee, so that the ordinary process of the law can not be served upon them, it is ordered by the clerk and master that publication be made in the "Intelligencer," a newspaper published the town of Paris, Tennessee, for four consecutive weeks, commanding them to be and appear before the Chancellor, at the next term of the Chancery Court, to be held for the county of Henry, at the Court house in the town of Paris, on the second Monday in September next; and plead, answer or demur to the complainant's amended bill, or the same will be taken for confessed as to them and set for hearing Ex parte.

March 20, '66] I. M. HUDSON; C. & M.

 

IN CHANCERY AT PARIS,
January Rules, 1866,
Origl. At.'h bill
James H. Howard,
vs.
Barnett A. Howard & John H. Dunlap

IT appearing to the satisfaction of the Clerk and Master, from the statements of the bill, which is, sworn to in the case, that the defendant, Barnett A. Howard, is a nonresident of the State of Tennessee, so that the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon him; it is ordered by the Clerk and Master that publication be made in the "Intelligencer," a newspaper published in the town of Paris, Tenn., for four successive weeks, commanding him to be and appear before the Chancellor at the next term of the Chancery Court, to be held for the county of Henry, at the Court House, in the town of Paris, on the second Monday in September, and plead, answer or demur to the complainant’s bill, or the same will be taken for confessed as to him, and set for hearing Ex parte.

I. M. HUDSON, C & M
March 20, 1866.

 

April 27, 1866

The Masonic funeral of Colonel J. WILLIAM JOHNSON was scheduled for Sat., May 26, 1866 at the Methodist Church in Paris, Tenn.; arrangements by the Marshall Masonic Lodge 109.

J. M. OLIVER, Cottage Grove, Tenn., married SALITHA E. HAYNES in her father's residence, Macedonia, Tenn., April 9, 1866.

 

June 29, 1866

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of JOHN T. ANGEL, dec., notified to file them with the Henry County Court Clerk on or before November 1, 1866.

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of CHARLES A. PUCKETT, dec., notified to file them with the Henry Co. Court Clerk on or before Nov. 4, 1866.

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of WILLIAM S. LAURIE, dec., notified to file them with the Henry Co. Court Clerk on or before Oct. 20, 1866.

 

(Page 2)

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of B. A. HOWARD, dec., notified to file them with the Henry County Court Clerk on or before Nov. 1, 1866.

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of CHARLES A. PUCKETT, dec., notified to file them with the Henry County Court Clerk on or before Nov. 1, 1866.

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of WILLIAM S. LAURIE, dec., notified to file them with the Henry County Court Clerk on or before Oct. 20, 1866.

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of JOHN CURRIN, dec., notified to file them with the Henry County Court Clerk on or before August 1, 1867.

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of W. H. JOHNS, dec., notified to file them with the Carroll County Court Clerk on or before Dec. 1, 1866.

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of R. T. NEAL, dec., notified to file them with the Henry County Court Clerk on or before December 1, 1867.

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of JEPTHA GARDNER, dec., notified to file them with the Weakley County Court Clerk on or before October 1, 1866.

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of SAMUEL IRVINE, dec., notified to file them with the Weakley County Court Clerk on or before October 1, 1866.

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of W. C. MASSEY, dec., notified to file them with the Weakley County Court Clerk on or before October 1, 1866.

Persons with claims against, the insolvent estate of WILLIAM D. LOVE, dec., notified to file them with the Weakley County Court Clerk on or before October 1, 1866.

 

July 6, 1866

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of W. E. COBLE, dec., notified to file them with the Henry County Court Clerk on or before the first Monday in January 1867.

Mrs. DYER HALL died Caledonia, Tenn. [about 4 mile NE of McKenzie, Tenn., close to the western Henry-Carroll counties line] on July 5, 1866 of typhoid fever.

 

August 17, 1866

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of C. C. GREEN, dec., notified to file them with the Henry County Court Clerk on or before July 11, 1866.

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of GEORGE P. CHILCUTT, dec., notified to file them with the Henry County Court Clerk on or before Nov. 15, 1866.

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of FRANK HAWKINS, dec., notified to file them with the Henry County Court Clerk on or before December 1, 1866.

[Insolvent estates were those in which there were not enough assets to cover the debts against the estate; debts usually paid pro rata, i.e. a set percentage based on assets available.]

 

(Page 3)

THOMAS K. HALL died in Paris, Tenn., August 11, 1866.

MARY wife of Dr. Peter LOONEY died Henry County, Tennessee, August 12, 1866.

Article dealing with GEORGE RUSSEL [sic], deceased:

A SHORT AND SAD STORY

From the Memphis Avalanche, Aug. 7.
        About ten weeks ago a gentleman passed through this city on his way to Arkansas, where he intended to locate. An Englishman by birth, he had been for years a commercial traveler for a house in one of the largest mercantile cities in Europe, and in that capacity had visited every part of the world. He was a polished gentleman, and spoke fluently several different languages, and had accumulated an amount of information concerning the countries, through which he had traveled that was not only valuable but interesting in the highest degree to those who are fortunate enough to be numbered among his friends. Of a good family in his native country, he had moved in the best circles of commoners of England, and was, in every sense of the term, a perfect gentleman. Of a sensitive and retiring disposition, he was illy calculated however, to make acquaintances, and lacked the assurances which we daily learn is necessary to thrive in this world of ours. He had heard a glowing account of our sister State, and went to Pine Bluff, where his means became almost exhausted.
        Writing to his wife to remit to him at Camden, he started to that place on foot, where he had arranged to meet a friend. In this he was disappointed, and the unsettled state of our mail facilities preventing the receipt of means from home, he determined to return to this city and await until he heard from his family. About this time the two gentlemen from Kentucky arrived in Camden on horse back, and put up at a hotel there.
        In the morning their horses were missing, and the citizens turned out headed by the city marshal, and started in pursuit of the missing animals. They were found tied in the woods about a mile from town; and when on the way back to town with them the parties met the gentlemen of whom we are writing. Being a stranger, he was immediately arrested as the horse thief and told by the marshal that if he would tell who were his confederates in the matter, he would be released. A denial of any knowledge whatever of the theft was all that could be elicited, and the marshal then took the halter off one of the horses, and making a slip noose passed it around the gentleman’s neck and hung him to a tree, until, as the officer stated afterwards before the magistrate, "he turned black in the face and his tongue stuck out half a yard." When life was nearly extinct he was dropped to the ground; and when it again began to assert itself, he was once more urged to confess.
      As before, nothing could be told, and a second time the hanging scene was enacted until death nearly came to the rescue. He was, however, cut down, and then taken before a magistrate and committed upon the evidence that would not have detained any other stranger for a single moment. In a few weeks, during which time he remained in jail, his trial came on before the Criminal Court at Camden, and he was honorably acquitted, not one article of evidence appearing to implicate him, On the contrary, the real culprit, a well-known horse thief, who lived not far from the place, it was understood had stolen the horses. After his acquittal, the gentleman too proud to ask for assistance, where he had been so foully wronged, started for this city, and lived upon such precarious subsistence as his sensitive nature would allow him to ask for by the way, until he arrived at Tunica Landing, Arkansas, where he sought for and obtained work. He toiled along in the hot sun, for which he only received his board, until he became sick. Never having done any outdoor labor, the sun, combined with the treatment he received at Camden, had its effect upon him. Wishing to reach this city, where he hoped to hear from those who were dear to him, he took passage on the Des Arc upon her last trip up but one. He arrived in this city sick and worn out with want and suffering, and one week ago to-day the morning papers told of a man being found dead on the bluff, the Coroner's jury having returned a verdict that "George Russel had come to his death from want and exposure." Such, reader, is the history of the last two months of the life of one who while living was an upright, genteel, Christian man, and a honorable, high-toned gentleman. May the sod rest lightly on his grave, and God, who knows the sufferings of his body here below, reward him in that world "where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest."

 

Tombstone of MASTIN FREEMAN,
Paris city cemetery; see page 6.

 

(Page 4)

September 7, 1866

B. LOWENSTEIN & BROTHERS, merchants formerly of Paris, Tenn., had established themselves in a dry goods business at 242 Main Street, Memphis, Tennessee. [This firm became one of the most famous department stores in Memphis and the mid-South. "BENEDICT LOWENSTEIN was the oldest of the brothers (the others being ELIAS and BERNARD LOWENSTEIN). He came from Germany in 1850, landing at New Orleans and working his way overland to Paris, Tenn. where he opened a little store. The year 1855 found the brothers located in Memphis." Memphis PRESS-SCIMITAR, May 11, 1928]

Mrs. J. EADELMAN was proprietor of the Humboldt, Tenn. hotel.

 

October 20, 1866

Dr. R. W. GIBBS, prominent South Carolina journalist "is dead."

 

November 24, 1866

BETHEL COLLEGE, McLemoresville, Tennessee, would open on September 20, 1866; as announced by A. E. COOPER, president of its board of trustees. [This school was established in McLemoresville, Carroll County, Tenn., as the Bethel Seminary in 1842; assumed collegiate status in a few years; moved to McKenzie, Tennessee in 1872 where it is yet a respected institution of collegiate learning.]

Dr. J. T. LOVE, formerly of Huntsville, Alabama, had established his "permanent" dentistry in Paris, Tenn., for "now" at the Brooks House.

KERNY KIRBY, TAPLEY HARMAN, TAPLEY BOOTHE, WILLIAM ROWDEN and MONROE POE were notified to "come and receive" their portions of the estate of WILLIAM KIRBY, dec. LEMUEL BOOTHE, administrator.

Colonel R. A. BACON died near Paducah, Ky., Nov. 18, 1866 after a brief illness.

General JAMES T. [TRIMBLE] DUNLAP [Dec. 29, 1810-Nov. 8, 1879], now living in Nashville, Tennessee was in Paris for a few days.

 

December 22, 1866

JAMES S. WEATHERLEY, resident of Cincinnati, Ohio, died December 11, 1866 aged 51 years.

ED. O. EATON, musician, died Memphis, Tenn., December 18, 1866.

Funeral of Colonel J. J. LAMB and SAMUEL H. LAMB, brothers of B. F. LAMB, Paris, Tenn., was held in that town, Dec. 18, 1866. They had been "gallant soldiers." [Buried in Paris city cemetery, sharing one tombstone: Col. J. J. LAMB Born Dec. 14, 1833 Died May 28, 1864 aged 30 yrs. 5 mos. 14 ds S. H. LAMB Born May 29, 1838 Died Aug. 6, 1863 aged 25 yrs. 2 mos. 17 [07] ds. JONATHAN J. LAMB served as colonel of the 5th Tenn. Inf. Regiment, C.S.A. He was killed in battle at Ellsbury Ridge in Georgia. "Here the Fifth Regiment sustained an irreparable loss in the death of Colonel JONATHAN J. LAMB. He had just led a gallant and successful charge and on returning was establishing his picket lines where he fell mortally wounded. He was as brave and chivalrous officer as ever drew a sword or led a charge. Every member of his command loved him like a brother." MILITARY ANNALS OF TENNESSEE, Confederate, by John B. Lindsley, Nashville, 1886, page 200] SAMUEL H. LAMB served in Company I, 46th Tenn. Inf. Regiment, CSA.]

Captain A. V. CLARK and ELIZA WILSON, Henry Co., Tenn., were married in the residence of Mrs. McCLUSKEY, the bride's grandmother, Dec. 3, 1866.

Captain F. F. ADEN, formerly member of the 7th Tenn., Cav., C.S.A., married NELLIE C. SCOTT, St. Louis, MO., there, December 4, 1866.

J. R. HUGHES, Franklin, Tenn., married MATTIE E. ADEN, in residence of Dr. A. S. Aden near Paris, Tenn., Dec. 14, 1866.

 

(Page 5)

A. O. WEBB married MARGARET V. BOWLES, both of Weakley Co., Tenn., Dec. 4, 1866.

WILLIAM C. WELLS, Calloway Co., Ky., married ELIZABETH A. FIZER, Weakley Co., Tenn., December 4, 1866.

J. A. KILLABREW married MARY E. COLLEY, both of Weakley Co., Tenn., Dec. 6, 1866.

H. F. CRUTCHFIELD married S. A. JULIAN, both of Henry Co., Tenn., Dec. 6, 1866.

 

1867

January 19, 1867

SAMUEL DOWNING, Edinburg, Saratoga Co., New York, "is" the "last known survivor of the heroic men who achieved by arms our national independence. He "receives" an annual pension of $100. [DOWNING's application for a war service pension, S40055, is singularly barren of significant biographical data, basically noting that he died February 18, 1867.]

"The WEST TENNESSEE WHIG [Jackson, Tenn. newspaper] says that many of the farmers in Madison County are importing freedmen [blacks recently freed from slavery] from Georgia and Alabama to work their farms, being unable to employ any in that county at reasonable prices." [For more on this subject, see FREEDMEN'S LABOR CONTRACTS, MADISON COUNTY, TENNESSEE, 1866-1867, by Jonathan K. T. Smith, Jackson, 1996.]

 

February 16, 1867

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of ANDREW J. BARNES, dec., notified to file them with the Benton County Court Clerk on or before June 7, 1867.

Persons with claims against the insolvent estate of BENNETT K. SCOTT, dec., notified to file them with the Henry County Court Clerk on or before May 15, 1867.

 

February 23, 1867

JEFFERSON MITCHELL and wife, JANE, formerly HILLIARD, were non-residents of the State of Tennessee with an interest in some Henry County real estate. [This couple married in Carroll Co., Tenn., December 19, 1848, according to the marriage records of that county.]

The body of JOHN S. STEVENS, constable of Civil District 13, Henry County, Tennessee, was discovered about a mile from his residence, February 21, 1867; autopsy indicated that he had died sometime between the previous evening and that day from apoplexy [stroke]. [Excellent delineations of the Henry County civil districts have been prepared by Stephanie Routon Tayloe and are available for researchers' benefit in the Rhea Library in Paris, Tennessee.]

JAMES COURTS died at home, "on the mouth of Sandy [River]", 8 miles from Paris, Tenn., recently, at an advanced age.

 

March 16, 1867

J. T. [JAMES TRIMBLE] DUNLAP announcing the impending sale of his former residence, about 1000 acres, with brick residence, near Paris, Tenn. "skirting along the railroad." Would sell as one unit or divide into lots. [Dunlap was born Dec. 29, 1810; died in 1879; practiced law in Paris; moved to Nashville in 1847; served in the state legislature; sometime comptroller of Tennessee; practiced law in Nashville for years; twice married, he was father to a large family. (A GENEALOGICAL HISTORY OF THE DUNLAPS OF TENNESSEE, by K. A. Dunlap, Michigan, 1996, pages 12-15)

(Page 6)

April 20, 1867

THOMAS L. ORR died in his father's residence, Paris, Tenn., April 16, 1867 in the 22nd year of his age; consumption [tuberculosis].

 

May 11, 1867

ROMULUS M. SAUNDERS of North Carolina had died; had served in Congress, 1820-1827; 1841-1845; sometime member of the North Carolina legislature and a judge of that state's supreme court.

BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY OF THE AMERICAN CONGRESS, 1774-1971, Washington, D.C., 1971, page 1657:

SAUNDERS, Romulus Mitchell, a Representative from North Carolina; born near Milton, Caswell (then Orange) County, N. C., March 3, 1791; attended the common schools and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1809-1811; studied law; was admitted to the bar in Nashville, Tenn., in 1812 and commenced, practice in Milton, N.C.; member of the State house of commons in 1815, 1817, and 1819, and served two years as speaker; trustee of the University of North Carolina 1819-1864; moved to Raleigh, N.C. in 1823; elected as a Democrat to the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Congresses (March 4, 1821-March 3, 1827); declined to be a candidate for reelection; attorney general of the State 1828-1831; judge of the superior court 1835-1840; defeated by one vote for Governor of North Carolina in 1840 on the Democratic ticket; was elected to the Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1841-March 3, 1845); unsuccessful candidate for reelection; Minister to Spain 1846-1849; again a member of the State house of commons 1850-1852; judge of the superior court of North Carolina 1852-1856; member of the board of commissioners to revise the laws of North Carolina; died in Raleigh, N.C., April 21, 1867; interment in Old City Cemetery.

 

June 29, 1867

ROBERT H. SHACKEY, in the 74th year of his age, "one of the oldest settlers in Mississippi," died on plantation of Colonel W. T. Withers, near Grenada, Miss., June 10, 1867.

 

July 6, 1867

A child of JOHN TREVATHAN, Paris, Tenn., fell into a kettle of boiling water a few days ago and died from the resulting injuries, July 4, 1867.

 

August 17, 1867

R. C. PURYEAR died July 31, 1867 in Yadkin Co., North Carolina; had served in that state's legislature and also in Congress.

BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY OF THE AMERICAN CONGRESS, 1774-1971, Washington, D.C., 1971, page 1575:

PURYEAR, Richard Clauselle, a Representative from North Carolina; born in Mecklenburg County, Va., February 9, 1801; moved with his parents to Surry County, N. C.; pursued classical studies; engaged in planting near Huntsville, N.C.; colonel of militia; magistrate of Surry County; served in the State house of commons in 1838, 1844, 1846, and in 1852; member of the State senate; elected as a Whig to the Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth Congresses (March 4, 1853-March 3, 1857); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1856 to the Thirty-fifth Congress; was a delegate to the Confederate Provisional Congress which assembled at Richmond in 1861; delegate to the peace congress held in Philadelphia after the Civil War; resumed agricultural pursuits; died on his plantation, "Shallow Ford," in Yadkin County, N.C., July 30, 1867; interment in the family burial ground.

 

September 7, 1867

MASTIN FREEMAN, an "old and worthy citizen" of Paris, Tennessee died there, September 1, 1867 aged 76 years.

[The present compiler had to dig Freeman's tombstone out of the earth in the Paris city cemetery. Broken, it read: MASTIN FREEMAN Born Dec. 1786 Died Sept. 1, 1867 Blessed be those who die in the Lord.

FREEMAN's wife's tombstone, broken, has been reset, the upper portion of the tombstone ONLY surviving, reading: Mrs. DOLLY FREEMAN Born ___. It was reset out of alignment with the D. F. footstone at her grave. Their son, MASTIN E. R. FREEMAN, who died in 1872, has a C.S.A. marker [Co. E., 5th Tenn. Infantry] with his name inscribed on it. Another son, HATCHEWELL V. FREEMAN, married BETTIE FREEMAN and died September 22, 1897.]

(Page 7)

October 26, 1867

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF WEAKLEY COUNTY, TENN.

Wm. C. Jones, and others, vs. William Shaw and others.

WHEREAS Wm. C. Jones, Cathrine Dent, Joseph E. Dent, Deborah Fall, William F. Fall, Keziah Clark, Levi Clark and Alexander Milner, filed their petition in the County Court of Weakley county, against William Shaw, Thomas Shaw, Ann Eliza Powell, Keziah Powell, Marcellas Parish, John H. Parish, Susan C. Parish, Michael A. Brooks, Charles H. Brooks, J. A. Brooks, Samantha Abbington, Surepta Davie, Wm. A. Davie, Margaret J. Davie, Joseph Davie, Mary Darling, John S. Jones, and the widow and children of John R. Shaw, dec'd., for a division of the Lands of Israel Jones, dec'd., and it appearing from affidavit that Mary Darling has intermarried with one Thomas Wood, a citizen of Lawrence county, Arkansas, and the petitioners having moved for a sci fa against said Thomas Wood as the husband of the said, Mary; this is then to command the said Thomas Wood to appear and show Cause, on or before the first Monday in November, 1867, why said suit should not be revived against him as such husband, and that publication be made as to said non-resident in a paper published in the town of Paris, Tenn., called the "Weekly Intelligencer."

G. R. McWHERTER, Clerk.
oct. 12-n26-4w*.

 

December 7, 1867

R. A. ALEXANDER, "famous Kentucky stock raiser" died Woodford Co., Kentucky, December 1, 1867.

The Reverend BEN HAYS, Methodist preacher for over 20 years in Paris, Tenn., "now" of Madison Co., Tenn., was reassigned to the Paris District for the next conference year. [Reverend BENJAMIN A. HAYS, April 23, 1818-December 1, 1904; buried in Riverside Cemetery, Jackson, Tennessee]

 

1868

February 11, 1868

JOHN GENANS [sic], an employee of the Memphis and Louisville Railroad, was accidentally run over, mutilated and killed by the train, while trying to board it, at the McKenzie, Tenn. station, on a recent night.

 

February 15, 1868

A school for black students, with "tolerably large attendance," had been established in Paris, Tenn.; taught by a black teacher from Paducah, Ky.

 

1869

October 2, 1869

ARCHIE DAVIS stabbed [_] BLAKE to death in Middleburg, Weakley Co., Tenn., Sept. 18, 1869; both young men.

A son of ALEX MILLS, near Linden Station, Virginia, "the other day took a shot-gun and shot his brother's head off."

 

1870

March 12, 1870

The executor of SAMUEL L. NOCK, dec., would offer for sale a tract of 226 acres located in civil district 5, five miles NW from Paris, Tenn., Henry County, that NOCK had purchased February 3, 1859; sale on April 4, 1870.

JOHN GILBERT, Memphis, married Mrs. LOUISA DEMAS in Paris, Tenn., Mar. 10, 1870.

ROBERT son of Mr. and Mrs. [W. S.] HOLSHOUSER, died at Dr. R. M. Dickenson's residence, Paris, Feb. 17, 1870; a. poem in his memory by "S." [His tombstone in the Paris city cemetery, fallen, reads: ROBERT DICKINSON HOLSHOUSER son of W. S. & C. A. R. Holshouser Born April 11, 1868 Died Feb. 17, 1870 aged 22 mos. 6 days Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven. A. H. VENN [marble-worker, Memphis].]

 

April 16, 1870

JOHN HAFFIE, Irishman, committed suicide by overdosing in Danville, Tenn. last week.

 

(Page 8)

WILLIAM A. DUNLAP married SANDOL STEWART, in the First Baptist Church, Memphis, Tenn., April 14, 1870. They would live in Paris, Tennessee.

Captain PEYTON RANDLE married Miss JOE PALMER, in Paris, Tenn., Apr. 12, 1870.

WILLIAM E. ORR died Paris, Tenn., April 1, 1870 aged about 60 years.

Dr. J. J. MATTHEWSON died in/near Paris, Tenn., April 10, 1870 aged 56 years; surviving were his widow and five children. [His tombstone in the Paris city cemetery reads: Dr. JOHN MATTRHEWSON Born Sept. 19, 1816 Died April 10, 1870. The February 28, 1871 issue carried the following:

INSOLVENT NOTICE.

HAVING Suggested the insolvency of the estate of Dr. John J. Matthewson, deceased, all creditors of said estate are hereby notified to file their claims duly authenticated, with the clerk of the County Court, for the county of Henry, on or before the 1st day of September, 1871; or the same will be barred in law and equity.

MARY T. MATTHEWSON.
Feb. 23, 1871-4w. Administratrix.

 

May 28, 1870

The city cemetery, Paris, Tennessee, had been cleaned and enclosed. "A village or city cemetery should be one of the crowning ornaments of the place." [This burial ground, located at the east end of Ruff Street in Paris, is currently well maintained. Many of its antebellum tombstones have fallen, been shattered or are partially buried. A good account of some of these older tombstones is contained in Worth S. Ray's TENNESSEE COUSINS, Austin, Texas, 1950, pages 775-779.]

At Jacksonville, Weakley county Tennessee, on the 16th instant, Dan Hill, aged seventeen years, shot his brother, Brock Hill, to death with a pistol. Brock Hill rode the colt belonging to Dan Hill, which so enraged the latter he swore he would kill his brother on sight. In a few hours Brock Hill returned to the house, the residence of their father, and was met by Dan, who immediately fired upon him shooting him through the heart and killing instantly. The fratricide was arrested and committed to jail to answer the charges of murder. The parties are of a good family and well connected. Great indignation and excitement was created in the neighborhood on account of the murder. So far from repenting the terrible deed, Dan Hill declares that he does not regret it, and would do so again under like circumstances. The brothers were on good terms up to the time when the sad affair occurred, and no reason can be assigned for the rash act except violent passion and utter recklessness with reference to the value of human life and a total disregard for the natural ties of consanguinity. – Ex.

 

August 12, 1870

Colonel THOMAS DICKENS was murdered near Memphis, Tenn., July 30, 1870.

[__] COCKERELL shot and killed J. T. ALEXANDER at a barbecue near the Walnut Fork meetinghouse, August 6, 1870; resulting from an old "grudge" with "women at the bottom of it."

[The death of JOHN RAY, in late summer of 1870, was unchronicled. In the south-central section of the Paris city cemetery is a double tombstone that reads: JOHN RAY Born Sept. 16, 1794 NANCY C. wife of John RAY Born Oct. 25, 1794 Died Feb. 21, 1877 "Our Mother"

Apparently JOHN RAY's death date had been forgotten by the person(s) placing the tombstone. On July 11, 1866 RAY executed his last will-testament, which document was probated September 5, 1870. Henry County Will Book T, 1865-1871, pages 481-482; Henry County Court Minute Book C, 1869-1875, page 218. JOHN RAY was reported alive and head of his household in the 1870 (August 6)

 

(Page 9)

U. S. Census, Civil District 6, Henry Co., Tenn., pages 268. He died, therefore, between August 6 and September 5, 1870. The tombstone:

 

September 2, 1870

Resolutions of respect in memory of J. P. DORRIS who died August 25, 1870, by an unnamed social organization.

Colonel W. C. SWOR born Nov. 22, 1808; died July 16, 1870. [Colonel SWOR's tombstone, in his family graveyard, just NE of Buchanan, Tenn., renders his chronology: Born Nov. 22, 1808; died July 16, 1870. His wife, ELIZABETH SWOR's tombstone, there, indicates that she was born April 15, 1808 and died August 7, 1862. He was a former Confederate Army officer.]

 

October 28, 1870

ROBERT E. DONNELL, Gallatin, Tenn., died of congestion, October 12, 1870.

CHARLES son of W. P. CHAMBERS was mangled by the cars of the Northwestern Railroad at Hollow Rock, Tenn. and he died recently.

T. C. WHITTHORNE "late" of Paris, Tenn., died in Shelbyville, Tenn., Oct. 25, 1870; surviving were his widow and one child.

Adam Gardner, of Henderson county, is 106 years of age. He was born in North Carolina in 1765, married and moved to Tennessee in 1786, and to Henderson county in 1826, and has been there seventy years. They have raised eight children all married and gone, and he and his old wife are the sole occupants of their home. The old couple are as jolly as crickets, and the old man, with the little assistance of the wife in planting, has this year raised enough corn to do them two years; has saved a thousand bundles of fodder unassisted, and is now directing his energies to saving a tobacco crop. His hearing is little dull, but his promise of life seems good for years yet.

[1860 (Sept. 20) U.S. Census, Civil District 20, Henderson Co., Tenn., page 295:
ADAM GARNER, aged 89, farmer, born N.C. (owned a farm valued at $1100).
S. GARNER, female, aged 71, born N. C.
HENRY GARNER, aged 30 years, born Tenn.

The 1870 (Aug. 22) U.S. Census, Civil District 20, Henderson Co., Tenn., page 191:
ADAM GARNER, aged 103 years, born N. C.
SARAH GARNER, aged 88 years, born N. C.

The Civil War Direct Assessment List, Civil District 20, Henderson Co., Tenn.:
ADAM GARNER, 297 acres valued at $306]

 

December 16, 1870

JAMES HOPGOOD, Gleason, Tenn., was killed by gunshot, December 14, 1870.

 

December 26, 1870

The estate of W. A. DINWIDDIE had been declared insolvent by the Henry County Court.

[In a missing issue, February 1871, would most certainly have appeared notice of the death of Hon. ISAAC B. WILLIAMS (Sumner Co., Tenn., April 13, 1812 - Henry Co., Tenn., Feb. 1, 1871), lawyer and Chancellor of the Henry County Chancery Court, 1854-1860. His tombstone epitaph, in Paris city cemetery, reads, "Honest in all things he did not fear to die."]

 

(Page 10)

1871

February 23, 1871

Dr. WILLIAM BURDETT died suddenly in Nashville, Tenn., Feb. 6, 1870, shortly after visiting a patient in that city.

General L. M. THARPE had been elected to the Tennessee Senate recently. [LUECO MITCHELL THARPE was born in Wake Co., N. C., January 19, 1825; married MARY ELIZABETH CROCKETT, granddaughter of Colonel David Crockett, 1786 -1836 of Alamo fame; served in the Tennessee House of Representatives, 1853-1855; 1866-1867; Tennessee Senate, 1871-1873. Lawyer by profession. Died Martin, Tenn., March 8, 1894. BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY OF THE TENNESSEE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, volume 1, edited by Robert M. McBride, Nashville, 1975, pages 714-715]

 

April 13, 1871

All the real and personal property of JOHN N. JACKSON, dec., would be sold at his late residence, five miles east of Paris, Tenn. on the "mouth of Sandy" [River] Road, April 29, 1871.

 

October 12, 1871

ROBERT J. MATHEWS married IDA DUMAS, Paris, Tenn., October 11, 1870.

[In a missing issue, surely these children's deaths would have been noted. Paris city cemetery: REID infant son of Wm. & Sue D. ROGERS Born Feb. 7, 1871 Died Aug. 25, 1871 CRAWFORD H. son of James M. & Alice C. RAY Born June 24, 1870 Died July 20, 1871 aged 1 year & 26 days Sleep well in death dear babe Thy Saviour's will then arise at last when bade and be an angel still.]

 

October 26, 1871

Colonel LEWIS W. WASHINGTON, relative of President George Washington, who owned some relics of this great personage, died near Harper's Ferry in Virginia, October 1, 1871. [LEWIS WILLIAM WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 1812-Oct. 1, 1871. See, THE WASHINGTONS AND THEIR HOMES, by John W. Wayland, 1944, page 334.]

A. S. HARMON married S. VIRGINIA REYNOLDS, both of Henry Co., Tenn., Oct. 19, 1871.

GUS W. BLYTHE married MAGGIE E. FRISTO, Graves Co., Ky., in the bride's father's residence, October 19, 1871.

The Jackson, Tennessee DEMOCRAT [newspaper] had changed its name to the WEST TENNESSEE PLAIN DEALER.

 

November 9, 1871

Resolutions of respect in memory of Dr. JOHN M. BASSFORD who died at Caledonia, Henry Co., Tenn., October 29, 1871; husband and father; by Sons of Temperance; undated.

The Reverend WILLIAM H. BAILEY married Mrs. ANN PERDEW, both of Conyerville, Tenn., Nov. 6, 1871.

WILLIAM H. SHRADER married Mrs. SUSAN D. MILLER, both of Henry Co., Tenn., Nov. 6, 1871.

 

November 30, 1871

H. SMITH married KITTIE daughter of George W. TALBOT, Paris, Tenn., Nov. 12, 1871.

Se. WILL McCAMPBELL, Union City, Tenn., married LYDE THOMSON, in residence of Mrs. Mary Thompson, Paris, Tenn., Nov. 28, 1871.

B. F. WILLIAMS married MARGIE COOK, both of Paris, Tenn., November 28, 1871.

 

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December 14, 1871

Mrs. POCA WYLY proposed to open a school at the Baptist Church in Paris, Tenn. on the first Monday in February 1872; annual classes would be divided into two five-month sessions. The editors volunteered to remark that Mrs. WYLY was a well-known "proficient teacher" in the community. [The August 14, 1879 issue stated that Mrs. WYLY died August 10, 1879 from consumption, in Paris. Her entry in the 1880 Henry Co. U.S. Mortality Schedule, page 1047, gives her age as 36 years, born in Tennessee; a school teacher. Mrs. Wyly was a daughter of Thomas A. Bruce; she married Harris K. Wyly, April 3, 1865, a Confederate soldier, who was killed six days later. See, THE WYLY SAGA, by Jonathan K. T. Smith, Memphis, 1981, pages 72-73.]

Tribute of respect in memory of U. T. SMYTHE of Paris, Tenn., recently deceased, "in the prime of manhood"; a Paris citizen; dated Dec. 12, 1871.

 

December 21, 1871

Tribute of respect to memory of Miss ADA D. HARROLD who died suddenly, recently, in "the bloom of young life," by Young Ladies of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows College, Paris, dated Dec. 18, 1871.

EDWARD H. son of Moses and Penelope TODD born November 8, 1843; joined the Baptist Church, Nov. 1858; married Mattie Milliken, Nov. 1869; died Dec. 10, 1871, Cottage Grove, Tenn. vicinity.

Tribute of respect in memory of Miss NANNIE E. MILLIKEN who died in Henry Co., Tenn., Dec. 1, 1871; by Sons of Temperance; undated.

 

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