Sketches of Prominent Tennesseans

Containing Biographies of Records of Many of the Families Who Have Attained Prominence in Tennessee
Originally Published Nashville 1888

MAJ. JOHN W. CHILDRESS.

MURFREESBOROUGH. MAJ. JOHN W. CHILDRESS, for many years a leading and highly respected citizen of Murfreesborough, was born in Sumner county, Tennessee, June 1, 1807. His father was Joel Childress, who came to Tennessee from North Carolina at an early day, and engaged in merchandising at Fox Camp Spring, then a noted place, remaining there until the sale of lots at the present site of Murfreesborough, when he went there and built the first house in Murfreesborough. He was made first postmaster at Murfreesborough, and held the appointment until his death, in 1819, The mother of Maj. Childress was Miss Elizabeth Whitsitt, daughter of John Whitsitt, also a native of North Carolina, who came to Sumner county among the pioneers and located there before the Indian troubles of the frontier were settled. He was associated with the Browns, Haskells, and Blackmores, families so well known in Tennessee. Maj. Childress was the youngest of a family of two girls and two boys. One of his sisters married President James K. Polk, and the other Dr. Wm. R. Rucker, of Murfreesborough. His brother, Anderson Childress, was a lawyer of ability at Murfreesborough. Maj. Childress began his education under Samuel P. Black, of Rutherford county, a noted teacher in his day, and continued it under Rev. Robert Henderson, for a long time a Presbyterian minister at Murfreesborough. In 1822 he entered the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill, and remained there more than two years, when he graduated. He returned to Tennessee, and began the study of law at Columbia,in the office of his brother-in-law, Hon. James K. Polk, and remained under his instruction until the following year, when Mr. Polk was elected to Congress. He then went into the office of his brother, Anderson Childress, at Murfreesborough. At the age of nineteen he was admitted to the bar by Judge Thomas Stuart, one of the ablest judges that ever presided on the Murfreesborough circuit. Young Childress then settled in Greene county, Alabama, and began the practice of law with fair prospects of success, but in a few months was compelled to leave that section on account of ill health, being threatened with consumption, and once more returning to Tennessee he went to work on a farm, and followed the business of farming all his life, with the firm conviction that farming is the greatest and best of professions.

In 1855, Andrew Johnson, then Governor of Tennessee, appointed him a director of the Bank of Tennessee, at Nashville, the largest banking institution in the State, and he served a term of four years. During this period Hon. Cave Johnson was president of the bank and James Morton cashier, and the institution was in a more flourishing condition than ever before. Of the fifteen directors who served during that time but two are now livingHon. Michael Bums, of Nashville, and Col. John McGavock, of Franklin. When the Planters' Bank of Nashville established a branch at Murfreesborough, Maj. Childress, at the request of Mr. Dempsey Weaver, cashier of the parent bank, became president of the branch, and filled that position with great credit and ability until the branch was withdrawn during the war. After the war, when the Murfreesborough Savings Bank was organized, he was made one of its directors and served as such until the bank was merged into the First National Bank of Murfreesborough. He then served as a director of that bank until the death of its president, Mr. Kimbrough, a year or two later, when he was made president, and remained so until 1881, when he resigned on account of increasing age, and was succeeded by Mr. E. L. Jordan, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. During all his banking career, covering a period of some twelve or fourteen years, Maj. Childress never owed a dollar to any bank with which he was connected, and in every case the position came to him unsought. He was also twice appointed a director of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad, serving in that capacity about thirteen years in all, and in both instances the position came to him without previous solicitation. Maj. Childress was raised a Democrat, and lived a Democrat all his life, casting his first vote for Andrew Jackson in 1828. He never held a political office, never was a candidate or office-seeker, but always took a lively interest in politics through principle, patriotism, and on account of his friends. In 1848 he was a delegate to the National Democratic convention at Baltimore, which nominated Gen. Lewis Cass for President. Maj. Childress married twice: first, in June, 1831, near Murfreesborough, to Miss Sarah Williams, daughter of Mr. Elisha Williams, a wealthy farmer in Rutherford county. Mrs. Childress's mother was a daughter of Mr. Philip Philips, of Pennsylvania, a large land speculator in Tennessee. By this marriage there were six children: (1). Mary, wife of Col. James M. Avent, a prominent lawyer of Murfreesborough, and mother of four children. (2). James K. Polk Childress, who married the daughter of Dr. Ben. W. Avent, and died in 1862, at the age of twenty-four. (3). Elisha, who entered the Confederate service in the famous Second Tennessee regiment, commanded by Col. Wm. B. Bate, and died in 1862, just after the battle of Shiloh. (4). John W., jr., now a successful lawyer at Nashville, and junior partner of the firm of Colyar, Marks & Childress; married Miss Mary Lyon, daughter of Rev. Dr. James A. Lyon, an eminent Presbyterian minister of Washington county, Tennessee, for thirty years stationed at Columbus, Mississippi, and for ten years professor in the University of Mississippi, at Oxford; by this marriage there are three children. At the beginning of the war he was a cadet at the Western Military Institute, at Nashville, and left there to enter the Confederate army; was given a commission as drill sergeant by Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, and joined the command the day before the battle of Fort

Donelson, where he was captured, being at the time not sixteen years of age. On being exchanged he was made adjutant of his regiment, with the rank of lieutenant, and held that rank until the battle of Bentonville, when he was made captain. On the several occasions during the war when his regiment was consolidated with other regiments he, though always the junior adjutant, was every time appointed adjutant of the new regiment. Capt. Childress since the war was for several terms chairman of the State Democratic Executive Committee of Tennessee, and filled the place with signal ability. ( 5). Bettie, now the wife of Ex-Gov. John C. Brown, and noted as one of the most elegant and highly cultivated ladies in the State; is the mother of four children. (6). Joseph, who joined the Confederate army near the close of the war at the age of fifteen; after the war marrried Mollie, the daughter of Hon. Edwin A. Keeble, of Murfreesborough, at one time Speaker of the lower house of the Tennessee Legislature, and also a member of the Confederate Congress. Joseph died a few years after marriage, leaving three children. The first Mrs. Childress died in 1851, and in October, 1852, Maj. Childress was married to Miss Mary Philips, daughter of Judge Joseph Philips, of Rutherford county, uncle of the first Mrs. Childress. Judge Philips was a captain of artillery in the war of 1812, and at the close of that war settled in Illinois, and was made the first Secretary of the Territory of Illinois, and was afterwards made Judge of the Supreme Court. He was first married in Illinois to Miss Morrison, and after her death came to Tennessee and married again. Several years later he was made president of the People's Bank, at Nashville, and filled that position several years. He died in Rutherford county, in 1857, at the age of seventy-three. By his second marriage Maj. Childress was the father of six children: ( 1). William, a farmer of Rutherford county; married Miss Inez Wade, daughter of Levi Wade, Esq., and has three children. (2). Horace, also a farmer in Rutherford county; married to Miss Shelley Maney, daughter of Maj. Louis M. Maney, of Murfreesborough, and granddaughter of Ex-Gov. Newton Cannon; has two children. (3). Eloise, wife of Edgar P. Smith, Esq., an able lawyer, who at one time was assistant attorney-general of the Murfreesborough district; has one child. (4). Annie, aged eighteen years. (5). Eugene, aged fifteen years. (6). Saline, aged eleven years. Maj. Childress came of Presbyterian stock, and his wives have both been members of that church; but he was never connected with any church organization. Maj. Childress began his life with but little of this world's goods, but by steady industry, energy, and close attention to business he worked his way to the front. He always dealt on a cash basis, never going in debt, especially

after the late war. Previous to the war he had amassed a handsome property, and was one of the largest land and slave owners in Rutherford county. He remained at home when the war began, but being harassed by the Federals he went South with his family, and on returning after peace was declared, found every thing swept away except his lands. But the same indomitable energy that characterized the struggles of his earlier manhood was brought to bear on his shattered fortunes. Maj. Childress died at Murfreesborough, October 6, 1884, since this volume was begun, universally regretted, and followed to his grave by an immense concourse of his fellow-citizens, who now cherish the memory of his upright life and sterling integrity.