| J. N. Hicks was born in Mississippi in February, 1844. His father, William B. Hicks, was born in North Carolina in 1816, and came to Tennessee in 1848, where he died in 1884. He was married to Amanda Woodruff, of Kentucky, who died in Tennessee in 1867. Our subject’s boyhood days were spent in a cotton-gin factory with his father. He learned the machinist’s trade, and worked with his father until the latter’s death, since which time he has managed the business alone. February 8, 1866, he married Mary Nelson, of Philadelphia, Penn., who died in October 1878, having borne two children: Ida C. (wife of Dr. J. T. Taylor) and Mary A. In November, 1879, Mr. Hicks married Mrs. G. J. Bell, and their union has resulted in the birth of one son, De Witt L. Mr. Hicks is quite well-to-do, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He is a Democrat, and belongs to the Masonic and I.O.O.F. fraternities. He enlisted in the Confederate Army in March, 1862, Col. N. B. Forrest’s regiment, Company E, and served throughout the war, receiving only two flesh wounds. |
