Capt. J. M. Brackin, assistant superintendent of the immense milling and lumber interest of A. M. Stevens of Dyersburg, Tenn., was born December 2, 1852, on Island No. 21, in Dyer County; son of Isaac and Martha (Hendrick) Brackin. Isaac was of German descent, born in North Carolina in 1800. In 1828 he came with his father, John Brackin, to Dyer County, Tenn., and after his marriage located on Island No. 21 in the Mississippi River, and afterward lived at Cana Point, above Island No. 21, engaged in cutting cord wood. He had about 150 cords, when the river suddenly rose and swept away his wood and cabin. The saved nothing but their gun, and the family barely escaped with their lives. They were surrounded by water for three days and lived on parched corn the entire time. In 1860 they located at the junction of the Forked Deer and Mississippi Rivers, and here the father died in 1874. He was a man of much public enterprise and energy and took an active part in building up the commercial interest of the county. He spent $7,000 in making the Forked Deer a navigable stream from Dyersburg to the Mississippi River. He owned at one time 3,000 acres of land. His wife was born in North Carolina in 1813, and died in 1862. Of their five children four are living: Ella (wife of Rev. D. A. Brigham), Annie (Mrs. A. Stevens), Merrick, T., who is the present circuit court clerk of Dyer County, and J. M., our subject, who was reared on a farm and was educated in the neighboring schools, and at Dyersburg. In 1875 he began working for A. M. Stevens in his flouring mill, and at the end of one year went to Newbern and worked the same length of time in a mill there. In 1877 he hired to Childs, Harrison & Co., of Dyersburg, as clerk in their dry goods store, and two years later became Captain on the "Alf. Stevens" plying between Dyersburg and St. Louis. Capt. Brackin commanded the boat for six years and was very efficient and skillful. In April, 1879, he married Georgia Stevens, daughter of A. M. and Virginia Stevens, and by her he became the father of two children: Albert and Louise. Capt. Brackin is a thorough business man and a Democrat. He belongs to the I.O.O.F and K. of H., and he and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.