Eben R. Vernon, M. D., of Dyersburg, is a native of Chambers County, Ala., born March 10, 1848. His father, Eben B. Vernon, was born in the Old North State in 1807. When a young man he removed to Thomaston, Ga., where he married. Soon after that event occurred, he located in Chambers County, Ala., where he died in 1842. He was of English descent, a farmer, and member of the Baptist Church. He was the father of four children, three of whom are living. They are John M. (a farmer, living in Chambers, Ala.), Sarah (Mrs. Louis M. Chunn) and the subject of this sketch. His mother, Elizabeth L. Richardson, was born near Thomaston, Ga., in 1812, and was of Scotch-English extraction. After the death of Mr. Vernon she married P. M. Lumpkin. She died in 1869. Eben R. received a good literary education in his youth, and at the age of nineteen began the study of medicine under Drs. Howell and Goode, of Thomaston, Ga. In 1859 he entered the Nashville University, where he remained one session, and the following year graduated from the Atlanta Medical College. He then went to Texas and located at Gilmer, but the war coming on soon after, he enlisted in the Seventh Regiment Texas Infantry, and was assigned to duty as assistant surgeon in this regiment. At the battle of Fort Donelson he was captured, but was retained at Clarksville to assist in caring for the sick and wounded. He afterward made his escape and rejoined the army at Shiloh. There he received a commission from the Confederate States Government as assistant surgeon, Confederate States Army, and was assigned to duty with the Fourth Regiment Tennessee Infantry, where he remained until the close of the war, with the exception of a few months in hospital service in Lagrange, Ga., Chattanooga, Tenn., and Montgomery, Ala. Besides the battles mentioned he was present at Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Atlanta, Jonesboro and Bentonville. At the close of hostilities he located at Dyersburg, where, until the last six years, he has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession. He was married December 25, 1867, to Sarah Clark, a native of Dyer County, and daughter of Charles P. and Sarah Clark. She was born March 15, 1846, and died October 29, 1871, leaving one child, Charles C.