Biographical Sketches

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.790

ARNELL, Samuel Mayes, a Representative from Tennessee; born at Zion Settlement, near Columbia, Maury County, Tenn., May 3, 1833; attended Amherst College, Amherst, Mass.; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Columbia; member of the constitutional convention of Tennessee in 1865; served in the State house of representatives in 1865 and 1866; upon the readmission of the State of Tennessee to representation was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-ninth Congress; reelected to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses and served from July 24, 1866, to March 3, 1871; was not a candidate for renomination in 1870; resumed the practice of law in Washington, D.C.; returned to Columbia, Tenn.; postmaster of Columbia 1879-1884; superintendent of schools 1884-1886; devoted his later years to literature; died in Johnson City, Washington County, Tenn., July 20, 1903; interment in Monte Vista Cemetery.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.854

BLACKBURN, Edmond Spencer, a Representative from North Carolina; born near Boone, Watauga County, N.C., September 22, 1868; attended the common schools and academies of his native State; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1890 and commenced practice in Jefferson, Ashe County, N.C.; reading clerk of the State senate in 1894 and 1895; member of the State house of representatives in 1896 and 1897, serving as speaker pro tempore the latter year; assistant United States attorney in 1898; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1901-March 3, 1903); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1902 to the Fifty-eighth Congress; elected to the Fifty-ninth Congress (March 4, 1905-March 3, 1907); was not a candidate for renomination in 1906; resumed the practice of law in Greensboro, N.C.; died in Elizabethton, Carter County, Tenn., March 10, 1912; interment in Old Hopewell Cemetery, near Boone, N.C.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.873

BOWER, William Horton, a Representative from North Carolina; born near Wilkesboro, Wilkes County, N.C., June 6, 1850; attended the Finley High School at Lenoir, N.C.; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1870 and commenced practice in Lenoir; moved to California in 1876 and taught school there four years; returned to Lenoir, N.C., in 1881; member of the State house of representatives in 1882; served in the State senate in 1884; solicitor of the tenth judicial district of North Carolina in 1885 and 1886; unsuccessful candidate for Congress in 1890; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-third Congress (March 4, 1893-March 3, 1895); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1894 to the Fifty-fourth Congress; resumed the practice of law in Lenoir, Caldwell County, N.C., and died there May 11, 1910; interment in Elkville Cemetery, Caldwell County, N.C.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.904

BROWNLOW, Walter Preston (nephew of William Gannaway Brownlow), a Representative from Tennessee; born in Abingdon, Washington County, Va., March 27, 1851; attended the common schools; employed as a telegraph messenger boy when only ten years of age; became an apprentice in the tinning business at the age of fourteen and later became a locomotive engineer; entered upon newspaper work as a reporter for the Knoxville Whig and Chronicle in 1876; in the same year purchased the Herald and Tribune in Jonesboro, Tenn.; delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1880, 1884, 1896, 1900, and 1904; appointed postmaster at Jonesboro in March 1881; resigned in the following December to accept the position of Doorkeeper of the National House of Representatives in the Forty-seventh Congress and served in that capacity from 1881 to 1883; member of the Republican National Committee in 1884, 1896, and 1900; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fifth and to the six succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1897, until his death; elected as a member of the Board of Managers for the National Soldiers’ Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers and served from 1902 to 1910; died at the National Soldiers’ Home, Johnson City, Washington County, Tenn., July 8, 1910; interment in the Soldiers’ Home Cemetery.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.928

BUTLER, Roderick Randum (grandfather of Robert Reyburn Butler), a Representative from Tennessee; born in Wytheville, Va., April 9, 1827; bound as an apprentice and learned the tailor’s trade; moved to Taylorsville (now Mountain City), Tenn.; attended night school; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1853 and commenced practice in Taylorsville, Tenn.; appointed postmaster of Taylorsville by President Fillmore; major of the First Battalion of Tennessee Militia; member of the State senate 1859-1863; during the Civil War served in the Union Army as lieutenant colonel of the Thirteenth Regiment, Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry, from November 5, 1863, until April 25, 1864, when he was honorably discharged; delegate to the Republican National Convention at Baltimore in 1864; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1865; county judge and judge of the first judicial circuit of Tennessee in 1865; chairman of the first State Republican executive committee of Tennessee; delegate to the Baltimore Border State Convention; elected as a Republican to the Fortieth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1867-March 3, 1875); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1874 to the Forty-fourth Congress; president of the Republican State conventions in 1869 and 1882; delegate to the Republican National Convention at, Philadelphia in 1872 and at Cincinnati in 1876; member of the State house of representatives 1879-1885; elected to the Fiftieth Congress (March 4, 1887-March 3, 1889); was not a candidate for renomination in 1888; resumed the practice of law; again a member of the State senate 1893-1901: died in Mountain City, Johnson County, Tenn., August 18, 1902; interment in Mountain View Cemetery.

The 20th Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Vol. 2, p.133

CARTER, Samuel Powhatan, naval officer, was born in Carter county, Tenn., Aug. 6, 1819. He attended Washington college, Tenn., studied at Princeton, and was appointed a midshipman in the U. S. navy in 1840. In 1846 he was on duty at the naval school in Philadelphia, when he was promoted passed midshipman. He served in the Mexican war, participating in the taking of Vera Cruz. During 1847-48 he was attached to the U. S. naval observatory in Washington; 1851-53 was assistant instructor at the U. S. naval academy; was promoted master in 1854, and lieutenant in 1855. During 1855-57 he was attached to the San Jacinto of the Asiatic squadron, and participated in the taking of the Barrier forts in the Canton river. He was assistant instructor in seamanship at the naval academy from 1858 to 1860, and on July 11, 1861, was ordered on special service with the army in east Tennessee. He was commissioned acting brigadier-general Sept. 16, 1861, and brigadier-general May 1, 1862; was provost-marshal of east Tennessee during 1863-64; was brevetted major-general of United States volunteers March 13, 1865; was mustered out January, 1866. He was distinguished for his gallantry in the engagements at Wildcat, Ky., October, 1861, Mill Spring, 1862, and in the capture of Cumberland Gap. He commanded the left wing of the army at Kinston, N. C., March 10, 1865, and defeated the Confederates at Goldsboro. At the close of the war he returned to naval duty, was promoted commander June 25, 1865; during 1865-72 was commandant at the U.S. naval academy; was promoted captain, 1870; was a member of the lighthouse board, 1867-80; was promoted commodore Nov. 13, 1878; was retired Aug. 6, 1881, and promoted rear-admiral on the retired list May16, 1882. He died in Washington, D. C., May 26, 1891.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.954

CARTER, William Blount, a Representative from Tennessee; born in Elizabethton, Carter County, Tenn., October 22, 1792; attended the public schools; during the War of 1812 served as a colonel; member of the State house of representatives; served in the State senate; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1834 and served as its presiding officer; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth, and Twenty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1835-March 3, 1841); died in Elizabethton, Tenn., April 17, 1848; interment in Carter Cemetery.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.1024

COWLES, Charles Holden (nephew of William Henry Harrison Cowles), a Representative from North Carolina; born in Charlotte, N.C., July 16, 1875; moved with his parents to Wilkesboro, Wilkes County, December 26, 1885; attended Charlotte graded school, private schools, Wilkesboro Academy, and completed a commercial college course; member of the board of aldermen of Wilkesboro in 1897 and again in 1914; deputy clerk of the United States Court at Statesville and Charlotte 1899-1901; private secretary to Representative Edmond S. Blackburn 1901-1903; member of the State house of representatives 1904-1908, 1920-1924, 1928-1930, and 1932-1934; delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1904, [p.1025] 1908, 1912, and 1916; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-first Congress (March 4, 1909-March 3, 1911); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1910 to the Sixty-second Congress; nominated in 1916 by the Roosevelt or Progressive Republicans for the United States Senate but declined the nomination; established and published the Wilkes Patriot, Wilkesboro, N.C., 1906-1919; during the First World War served as a member of the Wilkes County Council of Defense; was a member of the State senate 1938-1940; during World War II served as chairman of War Price and Rationing Board No. I for Wilkes County from January 7, 1942, to September 15, 1945, when he resigned; appointed deputy clerk of the United States Court in Wilkesboro on April 1, 1941, in which capacity he is now serving; is a resident of Wilkesboro, N.C.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.1025

COWLES, William Henry Harrison (uncle of Charles Holden Cowles), a Representative from North Carolina; born in Hamptonville, Yadkin County, N.C., April 22, 1840; attended the common schools and academies of his native county; during the Civil War entered the Confederate service as a private in Company A, First North Carolina Cavalry, and served from the spring of 1861 to the close of the war with the Army of Northern Virginia, holding successively the ranks of captain, major, and lieutenant colonel of his regiment; twice wounded severely; entered upon the study of law in Richmond Hill, Yadkin County, in 1866; obtained a county court license in January 1867 and a superior court license in January 1868; moved to Wilkesboro, Wilkes County, where he commenced the practice of law; reading clerk of the State senate of North Carolina 1872-1874; elected solicitor of the tenth judicial district in 1874 and served for four years; member of the Democratic State executive committee for eight years; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-ninth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1885-March 3, 1893); was not a candidate for renomination in 1892; engaged in agricultural pursuits and also interested in other business activities; died in Wilkesboro, N.C., December 30, 1901; interment in Presbyterian Cemetery.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.1246

HACKETT, Richard Nathaniel, a Representative from North Carolina; born in Wilkesboro, Wilkes County, N.C., December 4, 1866; attended the Wilkesboro High School, and was graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1887; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1888 and commenced practice in Wilkesboro, N.C.; chairman of the Wilkes County Democratic executive committee 1890-1923; member of the Democratic State executive committee 1890-1923; mayor of Wilkesboro 1894-1896; represented North Carolina at the centennial of Washington’s inauguration in New York in 1889; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1896 to the Fifty-fifth Congress; elected as a Democrat to the Sixtieth Congress (March 4, 1907-March 3, 1909); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1908 to the Sixty-first Congress; resumed the practice of law in North Wilkesboro, N.C.; died in Statesville, N.C., November 22, 1923; interment in the St. Paul’s Episcopal Churchyard, Wilkesboro, N.C.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.1373

JOHNSON, Andrew, a Representative and a Senator from Tennessee and a Vice President and a President of the United States; was born in Raleigh, N.C., on December 29, 1808; self-educated, never having attended school a day in his life; at the age of ten was apprenticed to a tailor; ran away and worked as a tailor at Laurens Court House, S.C., until 1825; returned and endeavored to make settlement with his former employer; moved to Greeneville, Tenn., in September 1826, where he received instruction in elementary English branches from the young woman he married May 27, 1826; moved to Rutledge:, Grainger County, Tenn., where he was employed as a tailor for a short time; returned to Greeneville, Tenn., in 1827; organized a workingman’s party in 1828 and became its leader; alderman of Greeneville 1828-1830; mayor 1830-1834; member of the State house of representatives 1835-1837 and 1839-1841; unsuccessful candidate for presidential elector on the Democratic ticket of Van Burro and Johnson in 1840; served in the State senate in 1841; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1843-March 3, 1853); did not seek renomination, having become a gubernatorial candidate; Governor of Tennessee 1853-1857; elected to the United States Senate and served from October 8, 1857, to March 4, 1862, when he resigned; appointed by President Lincoln Military Governor of Tennessee, with the rank of brigadier general of Volunteers, March 4,1862; was nominated as a War Democrat and elected Vice President of the United States on the Republican ticket headed by Abraham Lincoln in 1864 and was inaugurated March 4, 1865; became President of the United States April 15, 1865, upon the death of Abraham Lincoln; wide differences arising between the President and the Republican Congress, a resolution for his impeachment passed the House of Representatives February 24, 1868; eleven articles were set out in the resolutions and the trial before the Senate lasted three months, at the conclusion of which he was acquitted (May 16, 1868) by a vote of thirty-five for conviction to nineteen for acquittal, the necessary two-thirds vote for impeachment not having been obtained; retired to his home in Tennessee upon the expiration of the presidential term, March 3, 1869; unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate before the legislature in 1869; unsuccessful as an independent candidate for election in 1872 to the Forty-third Congress; elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1875, until his death at the home of his daughter near Elizabethton, Carter County, Tenn., July 31, 1875; interment in the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery, Greeneville, Greene County, Tenn.

The 20th Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Vol.6, p.93

JOHNSON, Eliza McCardle, wife of President Johnson, was born in Leesburg, Tenn., Oct. 4, 1810. She was the only daughter of a widow, who removed to Greeneville, where the daughter received a superior education for the time and place. Mrs. McCardle died in April, 1854. On May 27, 1826, Eliza McCardle was married to Andrew Johnson, a young journeyman tailor, who came from South Carolina and settled in Greeneville, then her home. She soon discovered the latent talent in her husband, and devoted herself to its development. Under her instruction he added largely to his small fund of self-acquired knowledge, and two years after their marriage he was elected alderman of the city, and in 1830 mayor. In 1861 she accompanied her husband to Washington, D.C., where he was U.S. senator, but was obliged to return to her home on account of ill-health, after a stay of two months. When her husband was appointed military governor of Tennessee in 1862 she was not able to join him, although ordered beyond the Confederate lines by Gen. E. Kirby Smith on April 24, 1862, and for several months she was kept in constant terror by accounts of his assassination and other false rumors of bodily harm, a price having been set on his head. She obtained a pass through the Confederate lines in September, 1862, for herself and children, including Mr. and Mrs. Stover and family; but they were detained in Murfreesboro by General Forrest until she received permission from the Richmond government to join her husband. Governor Johnson was elected vice-president in 1864, and his wife and family remained in Nashville until his inauguration as President on the death of President Lincoln, April 14, 1865. She then went to Washington with her family, including their daughters, Martha and Mary, Martha was born in Greeneville, Tenn., Oct. 25, 1828, was educated at Georgetown, D.C., and during her school days was a frequent guest of Mrs. Polk, wife of the President, at the White House. She had returned to Greeneville in 1851, and on Dec. 13, 1857, was married to David T. Patterson, a local judge and lawyer. Another daughter, Mary, was born in Greeneville, Tenn., May 8, 1832, and in April, 1852, married Daniel Stover, who died in 1862, leaving her with three children. Mrs. Stover was a member of her mother’s family during the trying times of 1862, and escaped with her husband and children to Nashville, where Mrs. Johnson’s eldest son, Charles, died by being thrown from his horse. These two daughters relieved Mrs. Johnson of the social cares of the White House during her husband’s administration, she being most of the time an invalid, and at its close she returned with the family to Greeneville, where soon after her son, Col. Robert Johnson, died. Her husband died suddenly, July 13, 1875, while visiting their youngest daughter in Carter county, and his body was brought to her desolate home and buried in the cemetery there. She survived him but a few months, and died at the home of her eldest daughter, at Bluff City, Tenn., Jan. 13, 1876.

The 20th Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Vol.6, p.400

LENOIR, William, soldier, was born in Brunswick county, Va., May 20, 1751. His parents, of French-Huguenot descent, removed in 1759 to Edgecombe county, N.C., where he received a limited education and was married in 1770 to Ann Ballard of Halifax county, N.C. He removed to near Wilkesboro, then in Surry county, in 1775; became a member of the council of safety for that county, and served as lieutenant under Capt. Benjamin Cleveland in the expeditions of General Rutherford against the Cherokee Indians. He engaged in suppressing the Tories; and served as captain of the North Carolina Rangers under Colonel Cleveland in the battle of King’s Mountain, Oct. 7, 1780, where he was wounded. He took part in the engagement that resulted in the defeat of Colonel Pyle near the Haw river, where his horse was shot under him, and later he raised a company and marched toward the Dan river, with the expectation of joining General Greene’s army, but did not succeed. He passed through the various grades in the state militia, serving as major-general, 1821-39. He was register, surveyor, commissioner of affidavits, chairman of the county court, and clerk of the superior court of Wilkes county. He was a justice of the peace; a member of the house of commons of the North Carolina legislature for several years, state senator, 1781-95, and president of the senate for five years; a member of the council of state and president of its board, and a member of both the state conventions which met for the purpose of considering the constitution of the United States, where he insisted on the adoption of the proposed amendments. He was a trustee of the University of North Carolina, 1789-1804, and president of the board, 1790-92. Lenoir and Lenoir county, N.C., were named for him. He died at Fort Defiance, Wilkes county, N.C., May 6, 1839.

Thomas William Herringshaw, Encyclopedia of American Biography, p.646

McNEILL, Milton, clergyman, state senator, was born Jan. 8, 1846, in Wilkes county, N. C. He is a successful clergyman of the baptist church at Wilkesboro, N. C.; and in 1896 was elected a member of the North Carolina state senate.

The 20th Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Vol.7, p.342

MERCER, Jesse, clergyman, was born in Halifax county, N.C., Dec. 16, 1769; son of the Rev. Silas Mercer born 1745. His parents removed to Georgia in 1775, and settled in Wilkes county, but returned to North Carolina at the outbreak of the Revolution, where he remained until 1788, when he once more settled in Georgia. He was almost wholly self-educated, and was received the Baptist church in 1787. He was married, Jan. 31, 1788, to Sabrina Chivers, and was ordained, Nov. 7, 1789, by the Rev.Silas Mercer and the Rev. Sanders Walker. He was pastor of churches in Greene, Oglethorpe, Wilkes, Hancock and Putnam counties, 1789-1840, during which time he travelled extensively throughout the state. He was also the leader of a political party in Wilkes county, and was sent by them as a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1798. He was president of the general Baptist missionary convention, 1816, and represented the board in the general conventions of 1820 and 1826. He was for a time corresponding secretary of the board of trustees of the co-operating Baptist associations for instructing and evangelizing the Creek Indians. He organized the general committee of the Georgia Baptists, which resulted in the Georgia Baptist convention, and was president of the convention for eighteen consecutive years, and presiding officer of the Georgia association up to the time of his death. He was [p.343]influential in establishing Mount Enon academy in Richmond county in 1807, and was one of the founders of Mercer Institute, Penfield, Greene county, in 1833, named in his honor, which became Mercer university in 1837, and was removed to Macon in 1870. He gave the sum of $40,000 to the university during his life and by will, and served as a trustee, 1838-41. He gave about $25,000 to other religious and educational institutions, among them Columbian college, Washington, D.C. He received the honorary degree D.D. from Brown university in 1835. He edited the Christian Index, the first Baptist newspaper published in Georgia, which he purchased of Dr. W. T. Brantly, of Philadelphia, in 1833, and established at his home in Washington, Ga., and in 1840 he gave it to the Georgia Baptist Convention. He collected a volume of hymns entitled Mercer’s Cluster, and is the author of: History of the Georgia Baptist Association (1836). He died in Washington, Ga., Sept. 6, 1841.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.1571

MITCHELL, Anderson, a Representative from North Carolina; born on a farm near Milton, Caswell County, N.C., June 13, 1800; attended Bingham’s School, Orange County, N.C., and was graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1821; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Morganton, Burke County, N.C., in 1830; moved to Jefferson, Ashe County, N.C., in 1831; clerk of the superior court of Ashe County; moved to Wilkesboro, Wilkes County, N.C., in 1835, and resumed the practice of law; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Lewis Williams and served from April 27, 1842, to March 3, 1843; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1842 to the Twenty-eighth Congress; member of the State house of commons 1852-1854; elected to the State senate in 1860; delegate to the State convention of May 20, 1861, that passed the ordinance of secession, and voted against secession; was appointed judge of the superior court by Provisional Governor Holden in September 1865, subsequently elected and reelected, and served until June 30, 1875, when he resigned; died in Statesville, N.C., December 24, 1876; interment in the Presbyterian Cemetery.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.1611

NELSON, Thomas Amos Rogers, a Representative from Tennessee; born in Kingston, Roane County, Tenn., March 19, 1812; completed preparatory studies, and was graduated from East Tennessee College in 1828; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1832 and commenced practice in Washington County, Tenn.; served two terms as attorney general of the first judicial circuit; presidential elector on the Whig ticket of Clay and Frelinghuysen in 1844 and of Taylor and Fillmore in 1848; appointed commissioner (diplomatic) to China March 6, 1851, and resigned July 2, 1851; elected as a Unionist to the Thirty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1859-March 3, 1861); reelected to the Thirty-seventh Congress, and while en route to Washington to take his seat, during the Civil War, was arrested by Confederate scouts, conveyed to Richmond as a prisoner, paroled, and allowed to return to his home; upon the advent of the Union Army into East Tennessee in 1863 he moved to Knoxville; delegate to the Union National Convention at Philadelphia in 1866 and to the Democratic National Convention at New York in 1868; one of the counsel who defended President Andrew Johnson in his impeachment trial in 1868; elected judge of the State supreme court in 1870 and served until his resignation in 1871; died in Knoxville, Tenn., August 24, 1873; interment in Gray Cemetery.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.1678

PHILLIPS, Dayton Edward, a Representative from Tennessee; born in Shell Creek, Carter County, Tenn., March 29, 1910; raised on a farm; attended the country school, and Cloudland High School, Roan Mountain, Tenn., Milligan (Tenn.) College 1929-1931, and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville 1932-1934; taught school in Carter County, Tenn., in 1931 and 1932; was graduated from the National University Law School, Washington, D.C., in 1936; was admitted to the bar in 1935 and commenced practice in Elizabethton, Tenn.; attorney for Carter County 1938-1942; district attorney general, first judicial circuit of Tennessee, 1942-1947; during World War II served as an enlisted man in the United States Army, with overseas service in the European Theater of Operations, 1943-1945; elected as a Republican to the Eightieth Congress (January 3, 1947-January 3, 1949). Reelected to the Eighty-first Congress.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.1724

REECE, Brazilia Carroll, a Representative from Tennessee; born near Butler, Johnson County, Tenn., December 22, 1889; attended the public schools, Watauga Academy, Carson and Newman College, New York University, and the University of London; assistant secretary and instructor in the New York University in 1916 and 1917; during the First World War enlisted in May 1917 and served with the American Expeditionary Forces from October 1917 to July 1919; was at the front two hundred and ten days; commanded the Third Battalion of the One Hundred and Second Infantry; cited for bravery by Marshal Petain and Generals Pershing, Hale, and Edwards; was decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, Purple Heart, and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm; director of the School of Business Administration of New York University in 1919 and 1920; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-seventh and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1921-March 3, 1931); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1930 to the Seventy-second Congress; elected to the Seventy-third and to the six succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1933-January 3, 1947); was not a candidate for renomination in 1946; delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, and 1948; engaged in banking; member of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution in 1945 and 1946; chairman of the Republican National Committee 1946-1948; is a resident of Johnson City, Tenn.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.1793

SELLS, Sam Riley, a Representative from Tennessee; born in Bristol, Sullivan County, Tenn., August 2, 1871; attended the rural schools and King College in Bristol, Tenn., 1885-1890; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Blountville, Tenn.; served as a private in Company F, Third Regiment, Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, during the Spanish-American War; moved to Johnson City, Tenn., and engaged in the lumber business; member of the State senate 1909-1911; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-second and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1911-March 3, 1921); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1920 delegate to the Republican National Conventions in Chicago in 1912 and 1916; resumed the lumber business in Johnson City, Tenn.; also engaged in the manufacture of shale brick and in numerous other business enterprises; died in Johnson City, Tenn., November 2, 1935; interment in Oak Hill Cemetery.

Thomas William Herringshaw, Encyclopedia of American Biography, p.895

STOKES, Montford, governor, United States senator, was born in 1760 in Wilkes county, N. C. He was elected to the United States senate, which honor he declined; and in 1816 was again elected United States senator, and served until 1823. In 1826 he went into the general assembly of North Carolina as senator; and in 1829 was elected a member of the commons. In 1830 he was again elected to the commons, and in the same year was elected governor of the state.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.1897

TAYLOR, Alfred Alexander (son of Nathaniel Green Taylor and brother of Robert Love Taylor), a Representative from Tennessee; born in Happy Valley, Carter County, Tenn., August 6, 1848; attended Duffield Academy, Elizabethton, Tenn., Buffalo Institute (later Milligan College), Tennessee, and the schools of Edge Hill and Pennington Seminary, New Jersey; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1874 and commenced practice in Jonesboro, Washington County, Tenn.; member of the State house of representatives in 1875 and 1876; candidate for presidential elector on the Republican ticket of Hayes and Wheeler in 1876 and on the Garfield and Arthur ticket in 1880; unsuccessful Republican candidate for Governor in 1886, being defeated by his brother, Robert; delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago in 1888; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-first, Fifty-second, and Fifty-third Congresses (March 4, 1889-March 3, 1895); declined to be a candidate in 1894 for renomination; engaged in the practice of law in Johnson City, Tenn.; engaged as a lecturer and also interested in agricultural pursuits; candidate for presidential elector on the Republican ticket of Hughes and Fairbanks in 1916; Governor of Tennessee 1921-1923; again engaged in lecturing and in agricultural pursuits and resided at Milligan College, Carter County, Tenn.; died while on a visit in Johnson City, Tenn., November 25, 1931; interment in Monte Vista Cemetery.

Thomas William Herringshaw, Encyclopedia of American Biography, p.918

TAYLOR, Nathaniel G., lawyer, clergyman, congressman, was born Dec. 29, 1819, in Carter county, Tenn. He was a representative in congress from Tennessee from 1854 to 1855; was a presidential elector in 1853 and 1860; and was for several years a minister in the methodist episcopal church south. In 1865 he was elected a representative from Tennessee to the thirty-ninth congress. In 1867 he was appointed commissioner of Indian affairs.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.1901

TAYLOR, Nathaniel Green (father of Alfred Alexander Taylor and Robert Love Taylor), a Representative from Tennessee; born in Happy Valley, Carter County, Tenn., December 29, 1819; was educated in private schools and Washington College, near Jonesboro, Tenn.; was graduated from Princeton College in 1840; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1841 and commenced practice in Elizabethton, Carter County, Tenn.; presidential elector on the Whig ticket of Scott and Graham in 1852; elected as a Whig to the Thirty-third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Brookins Campbell, who never qualified, and served from March 30, 1854, to March 3, 1855; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1854 to the Thirty-fourth Congress; presidential elector on the Constitutional Union ticket of Bell and Everett in 1860; member of the relief association formed for the aid of war sufferers in east Tennessee and lectured in their behalf throughout the East; upon the readmission of Tennessee to representation was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress and served from July 24, 1866, to March 3, 1867; was not a candidate for renomination in 1866, Commissioner of Indian Affairs from March 26, 1867, to April 21, 1869, when he retired, and devoted himself to farming and preaching the Gospel; died in Happy Valley, Carter County, Tenn., April 1, 1887; interment in the old Taylor private cemetery.

TAYLOR, Robert Love (son of Nathaniel Green Taylor and brother of Alfred Alexander Taylor), a Representative and a Senator from Tennessee; born in Happy Valley, Carter County, Tenn., July 31, 1850; attended Pennington Seminary and Buffalo Institute (later Milligan College), Tennessee; engaged in making bar iron and in tobacco raising; studied law in Jonesboro, Tenn.; was admitted to the bar in 1878 and practiced in [p.1902] Elizabethton and Jonesboro; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1879-March 3, 1881); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1880 to the Forty-seventh Congress and for election in 1882 to the Forty-eighth Congress; practiced law and also engaged in the newspaper business in Johnson City, Tenn., in 1880; presidential elector on the Democratic ticket of Cleveland and Hendricks in 1884; pension agent at Knoxville, Tenn., 1885-1887; was Governor of Tennessee 1887-1891; presidential elector on the Democratic ticket of Cleveland and Stevenson in 1892; resumed the practice of law in Chattanooga, Tenn.; again served as Governor of Tennessee from 1897 to 1899; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in January 1907 for the term beginning March 4, 1907, and served until his death in Washington, D.C., March 31, 1912; interment in the Old Gray Cemetery, Knoxville, Tenn.; reinterred in Monta Vista Burial Park, Jefferson City, Tenn., in 1938.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949; Biographies, p.2052

YORK, Tyre, a Representative from North Carolina; born in Rockford, Surry County, N.C., May 4, 1836; attended the common schools; studied medicine at the Charleston (S.C.) Medical College and commenced practice in Traphill, Wilkes County, N.C., in 1859; also engaged in agricultural pursuits; served during the latter part of the Civil War as surgeon of the Wilkes County Home Guards; was a member of the State house of representatives in 1865, 1866, 1879, and 1887; served in the State senate in 1876 and 1881; elected as a Liberal Democrat to the Forty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1883-March 3, 1885); did not seek renomination in 1884, having become a gubernatorial candidate; unsuccessful candidate for Governor of North Carolina in 1884; resumed agricultural pursuits; died in Traphill, N.C., January 28, 1916; interment in Traphill Cemetery.