Submitted by Eddy Clark, July 30, 1997
Mark M. Sanders was born on the 10th of June, 1836, in Rutherford
County, Tenn., and is a son of Wiley and Martha (Hart) Sanders. Mark M.
received such education as falls to the lot of the average farmer's boy, and in 1861 enlisted in the
Confederate Army, in the Twentieth Tennessee Regiment, and served until the cessation of
hostilities. He participated in many of the principal battles, and was wounded five times. After his
return home he farmed in his native county one year, and then came to Gibson County, where he
has since resided. He owns 300 acres of valuable and well improved land, on which he raises
corn, wheat, cotton and stock. Mr. Sanders is essentially a self-made man, and has accumulated
his property by his energy and good management. In September, 1866, he led to the hymeneal
altar Mattie P. Adkeison, daughter of James and Jane (Smith)
Adkeison. Mr. and Mrs. Sanders have five children: Hollis W., Alice A., Annie J., Luna
D. and Mark A. The family are members of the Baptist Church, and Mr. Sanders is a Democrat
and a member of the F. & A. M. His mother is a descendant of Mrs. Nancy Hart, of Georgia,
who figured very conspicuously in the Revolutionary war.
William M. Senter is one of four children born to the marriage of James M.
Senter and Flora
McNeill, both natives of North Carolina, born in 1812 and 1810 respectively.
They married and
lived in their native State until 1855, when they immigrated to Gibson County, Tenn., and here
spent the remainder of their days. They were farmers and Methodists, and the father in early life
was a merchant. He was a Democrat and died in 1878 followed by his wife six years later. Our
subject is of English and Irish and Scotch descent. He was born in Harnett County, N. C.,
September 19, 1833, and was raised on a farm and received a practical education at the public
schools. At the age of nineteen he began farming for himself, and in 1851 married Sarah
Cameron, to whom two children were born. After her death he married, in
1857, Nancy J.
Pemberton who has borne him eight children. His second wife died in 1882
and the following
year he married Mrs. Nancy (Watson) Hendricks. In 1863 he joined Company
B, Fourteenth
Tennessee Confederate Cavalry and served one year. He has since farmed and in 1880 moved to
Montazuma to educate his children, and during his four years' sojourn in that place, was engaged
in the mercantile business. In 1885 he returned to his farm of 400 acres. He is a Democrat and
has been constable four years and magistrate ten years.
William T. Senter is a Son of Moses E. and Margaret J. (Elam) Senter.
They were both
Tennesseans, the father born in 1816, and both came to Gibson County after reaching manhood
and womanhood and here married. In their family were ten children, two sons and eight
daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Senter were members of the Missionary Baptist Church. He was
formerly a Primitive Baptist, but was expelled for joining the Masons. He was a minister for
about forty years, and was a Democrat up to the time of his death in 1882. His wife died the
same year. The Senters for generations back have been Baptist ministers. William T. Senter is
of English-Irish descent and was born and reared in Gibson County. His birth occurred January
2, 1841, and he secured only a limited education owing to the undeveloped condition of the
schools. At the age of eighteen he entered Bluff Spring College, but the war cut short his school
days. In 1861 he joined Company B, Forty-seventh Tennessee Confederate Infantry, and after
about a year's service was taken with typhoid fever and for twelve months was confined to the
hospital. After recovering he joined Forrest's cavalry and served until the close of the war. In
1870 he married L. A. Mitchell, daughter of Dr. P. H. Mitchell. Their union
has been blessed in
the birth of five children. Mr. Senter is a Democrat and farmer and owns 220 acres of land. He
is a Master Mason, and he and wife are members of the Missionary Baptist Church.
Capt. N. A. Senter was born Nov. 1, 1838, in Cumberland County, N. C.,
the son of J. M. and
Flora (McNeill) Senter, both natives of North Carolina and of Irish extraction.
The father was a
farmer and in 1855 moved to Gibson County, Tenn., where he passed the balance of his life. He
was a moral man, a highly useful citizen, and reared a family of two sons and two daughters. He
died in 1881, aged sixty-nine years. His wife was an excellent woman and died in 1883, aged
seventy-three years. Both were consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. N. A.
Senter was reared in North Carolina and in this county, growing up on a farm, He received a
limited education and early in 1861 enlisted in Company B, Twenty-seventh Tennessee
(Confederate) Regiment. He served about two years in the infantry and two years in the cavalry.
He was first lieutenant, and after Shiloh was captain, but was forced to resign, owing to poor
health. After recuperating, he enlisted in the cavalry service under Gen. Forrest, under whom he
served as first lieutenant. At Shiloh and Columbia he received gun-shot wounds, but was not off
duty thereby. At Shiloh five bullet holes were made in his hat. His experience was similar at
Columbia. After the war he engaged in the grocery business at Humboldt. In 1880 he opened a
livery barn. He is now acting deputy sheriff. He is a Democrat, a Mason and a K. of H. He has
been mayor and recorder of Humboldt several times. He was married December 18, 1867, to
Mrs. Elizabeth Lawhorn nee Baird, daughter of David Baird, an early settler of
Dyer County.
They have five children: John, Lilly, James, Grace and Neill. Both are members of the
Methodist Episcopal Church South.
Felix W. Seymour, farmer of Gibson County, is a son of Singleton and
Susan (Seymour)
Seymour, who were Virginians. The father was a Whig and a farmer and carpenter and came to
Tennessee in 1853, settling in Fayette County, where the father died. His widow and children
moved to Carroll County and finally to Gibson County, and here the mother died in 1885. They
were the parents of four children. Felix W. was born in Halifax County, Va., November 18,
1831, and as soon as he was old enough to work, he was obliged to assist in supporting the
family. In 1862 he married Betsy A. Leach, who died in 1870, leaving four
children. Three
years later he wedded Mrs. Emeline Jackson, who bore him three children. Mr.
Seymour and
his first wife belonged to no church. His present wife is a member of the Missionary Baptist
Church. Mr. Seymour was a Whig previous to the war and has since been a Republican. He is
quite well-to-do and owns 200 acres of land, which he has made by hard work and good
management.
Samuel G. Scruggs is a son of Hopwood D. and Eliza E. (Sands)
Scruggs, who were born in
Tennessee and North Carolina, in 1820 and 1816 respectively. The mother was brought by her
parents to Wilson County, Tenn., when a child. Here she afterward met Mr. Scruggs and
married him. Their farm consisted of 315 acres, and the father was a Whig and was captain of
the militia in early times. He died in 1857. His widow and six children continued to reside on
the home farm, and after the war broke out, many of the men, to whom she had loaned money,
became bankrupt; thus her children were deprived of their legacy. She was in feeble health at
the time, and her troubles unsettled her mind and it was found necessary to place her in an
asylum. She yet lives and is seventy years of age. She was a woman of great business tact and
ability and of fine intellectual powers. Our subject inherits Dutch blood from his father, and
English blood from his mother. He was born in Wilson County, July 19, 1845, and received
ordinary educational advantages. At the age of sixteen he joined Company B, Forty-fifth
Tennessee Confederate Infantry, and during two years' faithful service was not wounded nor
taken prisoner. After his return home he began farming, and in 1864 he married Anna E.
Allen,
who was born in Wilson County, on the 27th of February, 1848. To them were born six children.
Mr. Scruggs, his wife and four children are members of the Missionary Baptist Church, and he is
a Democrat. He came to Gibson County in 1873, and now owns 167 acres of good land, and
although he has resided but thirteen years in the county he is considered one of its first
citizens.
James T. Shackelford, M. D., was born in Marion, Perry Co., Ala.,
December 5, 1827; son of
Charles J. and Sarah P. (Haynes) Shackelford, who were born respectively in
Virginia and
Georgia. The father practiced medicine in Alabama until his death, June 9, 1845. James T.
secured a fair education in his youthful days, and early in life began the study of medicine under
his father, and in 1850 graduated from the medical college of Augusta, Ga. He practiced in
Talapoosa County, Ala., and in 1865 came to Trenton, Tenn., where he has since made his
home, and achieved an eminent degree of success. He is a Democrat and was a member of the
Alabama Legislature in 1855. He was surgeon one year during the war, in the First Regiment,
Alabama heavy artillery. In 1880 he made the race for Congress, running independent and was
defeated by the regular nominee by a very small majority. In 1851 the Doctor married Mary A.,
daughter of Col. M. J. Bulger, of Alabama. They have two children: Leroy and
Julia. Dr.
Shackelford is a Master Mason. His son, Leroy, is a druggist of Trenton, and was born in
Talapoosa County, Ala., February 10, 1853. He was educated in Andrew College in Trenton,
and at the age of nineteen began clerking in a drug store. In 1877 he engaged in the business for
himself and has done remarkably well financially. He keeps a fine line of goods and controls a
fair share of the trade in city and county. October 17, 1883, he married Penelope R.
Bond of
Haywood County. They have one child, Emma Bond. Leroy Shackelford is a Democrat.
James M. Skiles, a well known business man of Trenton, Tenn., was born
in Gibson County, on
the 9th of March, 1851, son of William Graham and Mary (Brown) Skiles,
natives, respectively,
of North Carolina and Gibson County, Tenn. The father was a farmer, and died in 1880. The
mother died in 1855. James M. was reared to manhood on a farm and secured a limited
education in his boyhood days. In 1871 he began farming for himself on a part of the homestead
place which he owned, and in 1876 discovered a superior vein of mineral or chalybeate water on
the place and proceeded to have the waters analyzed. He soon after opened the wells to the
public, under the name of the Skiles Wells, and conducted it as a watering-place for four seasons
very successfully. He then moved to Trenton and engaged in the grocery business, and is now a
prosperous business man of the town. He has engaged rather extensively in the retail liquor
business in the last two years, owning and operating two strictly first-class houses, besides his
grocery. In 1869 he married Martha Fairless, of Gibson County. They have
one child, James
Ivie. Mr. Skiles is a Democrat, and was constable of the Eleventh District two years.
He-belongs to the K. of P. and I. 0. 0. F. fraternities.
Benjamin A. Smith was born in the Palmetto State, in 1823, and with his
parents, William and
Margaret (Roberts) Smith, moved to Mississippi in 1839. The father was a
farmer of that State
until his death, in 1850. His wife died in 1867. Benjamin A. is one of their twelve children, and
resided with his mother until 1859, when be began traveling in the interests of the
PratteCotton-gin Factory. In 1860 he traveled for the
Griswold Cotton-gin Factory, and
continued for six years. In 1859 he married Lucretia Simmons, who was born
in Alabama, in
1834, and became the mother of two sons and three daughters, one son and one daughter of
whom are dead. Mr. Smith came to Gibson County shortly after his marriage and engaged in the
mercantile business at Lynn Point, where he remained two years. He then discontinued the
mercantile business until after the war, then resumed it for a short time. He next took a general
machine agency, and in 1870 erected a cotton-gin shop at Rutherford. He makes a specialty of
gins and feeders but is prepared to manufacture other machinery also. He held the office of
lieutenant-colonel in the State militia of Mississippi, and has been colonel of the State militia of
Tennessee. Mr. Smith began life for himself poor in purse but has gained his possessions by his
honesty, industry and perseverance. He and wife are members of the Missionary Baptist Church,
and he is a Mason and a stanch Democrat in politics. Mr. Smith takes a deep interest in all
educational enterprises, and contributes liberally to the erection of public institutions and houses
of worship. He has striven hard to educate his children and is himself well read and well versed
on the topics of the day.
George W. Somers was born four miles west of Dresden, in Weakley
County, Tenn., December
25, 1847, the eighth of eleven children born to George and Elizabeth
(Tomlinson) Somers. The
father was born in Wilson County, Tenn., in 1808, and left Middle Tennessee when a boy and
came to Weakley County, where he attained his majority, married and reared his family. He
died in 1880. His wife was born in Stewart County, Tenn., in 1808 and died at her son's,
William G. Somers, in Weakley County, in 1885. George W. was educated in the common
schools and has made farming his chief business through life. He began doing for himself in
1872, and came into possession of his present farm in 1883. He was married in the house he
now occupies, November 12, 1872, to Sallie L. Holland, daughter of Needham
Holland, and
their union has resulted in the birth of five children, three living: William B., Georgia Lee and
Needham La Fayette. Mrs. Somers was born in Gibson County, May 14, 1854. Mr. Somers is a,
Democrat, and he and wife are members of the Missionary Baptist Church. He owns 360 acres
of land, 185 of which are in the home farm.
Eli N. Stone, mayor of the city of Milan, Tenn., was born in Madison
County September 20.
1847, son of Clark L. and Margaret (Anderson) Stone, natives, respectively, of
Virginia and
Alabama. The father died in Carroll County when Eli N. was but three years of age,
consequently but little can be ascertained of his early history. Our subject spent his early days
on a farm with his mother, but secured a rather limited early education. In 1862 he enlisted in
Company F, of Chalmer's battalion of Mississippi cavalry, but was soon after
transferred to
Company C, Seventh Regiment Tennessee Cavalry, and served as a private in Gen. Forrest's
cavalry until the surrender. He then attended school one year at West Tennessee College, and
was then engaged in clerking in a mercantile establishment for two years. From 1871 until 1883
he followed merchandising for himself and then engaged in a similar business in Texas, which
proved successful. He returned to Milan and was manager for W. B. Williams
until James
Owens became proprietor, and has remained in the latter's employ up to the
present time. In
1870 he married Miss Hattie Lowry, of Mississippi, a sister of the present
governor of that
State. She died in 1872, leaving two children: Hattie L. (deceased) and Margie L. In 1873 he
married his present wife, who was Miss Elizabeth P. Priest, a native of Carroll
County, Tenn.
They have five children: Lowry, Alexander, Ruth, Mina and Elizabeth. Mr. Stone is a Democrat,
and in December, 1885, was elected to the office of mayor, which he has very efficiently filled
to the present time. He has been a member of the board of mayor and alderman for a number of
years, and was for several years the efficient city treasurer of Milan. He is Chancellor
Commander of the local lodge of K. of P., and he and wife are members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. Mr. Stone is a step-son of John G. Shepherd, of this city.
His mother died in
1871.
Dr. William H. Stilwell is a son of Elijah and grandson of John
Stilwell, who was of English
descent and enlisted in the Revolutionary war at the age of sixteen (1776). His son, Elijah, was
born in North Carolina, and served a short time in the war of 18l2. He married Rebecca
Osborn, who was also a native of North Carolina. Our subject is a direct
descendant of John
Coke, the public prosecutor of Charles I, of England.
Through the laws of England the family
were obliged to flee the country, and took refuge in Holland, where they took the mother's name
of Still and the town of Wells, combining the two. Our subject was born in North Carolina, and
there lived until ten years of age, when he came with his father to Bedford County, Tenn., and
there spent his boyhood days on a farm. At the age of twenty-one he began studying medicine in
Lexington, Ky., and graduated at Memphis, Tenn., several years later, being one of the first who
graduated from the medical school of that city. He practiced a short time in Alabama in 1838,
and the same year came to Gibson County, locating about ten miles from Humboldt, where he
remained until December 25, 1858, when he came to the town, being then the third or fourth
family in the town. In 1866 he took charge of the postoffice at this place and held the same until
the fall of 1885, when he returned to the practice of his profession. He has been a thorough
politician in the Republican ranks, and was a strong Union man during the war. In 1860 he
established a paper known as the Cosmos, and continuing the same until the spring of 1861,
when his printer joined the Confederate Army and stopped the publication. In 1837 he married
Mary Gibson, who died in 1843, leaving three little daughters: Cordelia H.,
Hannah R. and Mary
A. Mary Hockaday became his wife in 1845. She died a year later, and in
1850 he wedded
Mary Gillespie, who bore him three children: Ben G., William H. and Emily F.
(wife of Rev.
George N. Wall, of West Finley, Penn.). Dr. and Mrs. Stilwell are members of
the Presbyterian Church.
Joshua Swindell is a son of Hollowell and Margaret
(Williamson) Swindell, natives of North
Carolina, born in 1792 and 1800. They were married and lived in their native State until 1818,
when they moved to White County, Tenn., and to Carroll County in 1825, and finally located in
Gibson County in 1843. They became the parents of seven children, and both were members of
the Primitive Baptist Church. The father was a Whig and held a number of positions of honor
and trust in the county such as magistrate and constable. He was a carpenter and farmer, and
after his wife's death, in 1838, he married Rebecca Neighbors by whom he had five children. He
died in 1847. Joshua Swindell inherits English blood from his father and English and Irish blood
from his mother. He was born in White County, Tenn., January 25, 1823, and up to twenty years
of age resided with his parents. He then began doing for himself and soon saved enough money
to purchase a small farm which he afterward increased to 356 acres. He now owns 187 acres. In
1845 he married Priscilla E. Hancock who died in 1847, leaving one son, James
H. In 1853 Mr.
Swindell took for his second wife Drucilla Holt, by whom he had six children,
the following
three living: Martha E., Henry J. and Emma B. Mr. Swindell has always voted the Whig and
Republican tickets and held the office of constable one year. His wife is a member of the
Primitive Baptist Church.
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