History of Paris, (Henry County) Tennessee United States of America

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Biographies:

Howell Edmunds Jackson, jurist, was born at Paris, Tenn., April 8, 1832; son of Dr. Alexander and Mary W. (Hurt) Jackson. He was graduated from the West Tennessee college in 1849; from the University of Virginia in 1854, and from the law department of Cumberland university, Lebanon, Tenn., in 1856. He practised law in Jackson, 1856-58, and removed in 1859 to Memphis, Tenn., where he formed a partnership with the Hon. D. M. Currin. At the outbreak of the civil war he was appointed receiver for West Tennessee of property sequestrated under the Confederate confiscation act, and held the office until the close of the war. When West Tennessee fell into the hands of the Federal forces, he was prevented from joining the army by the necessity of caring for the funds in his custody, no other person being authorized to receive them. After the close of the war he returned to Memphis and resumed the practice of law in partnership with B. M. Estes. In 1874 he removed to Jackson, where he formed a law partnership with Gen. Alexander W. Campbell. In 1875, and again in 1877, by appointment of the governor, he served on the court of arbitration for West Tennessee, a provisional adjunct to the supreme court, to dispose of cases accumulated during the war. He was also several times appointed to serve as special judge of the supreme court. He was elected a representative to the state legislature on the state credit platform in 1880, and after a prolonged contest was elected to the U.S. senate in January, 1881. He served until April 15, 1886, when, on the death of Judge John Baxter, of the U.S. circuit court for the sixth circuit, he was appointed by President Cleveland, over his protest, to fill the vacancy. His circuit was of great importance, embracing the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan. He decided many important cases, involving grave questions of constitutional, maritime, commercial and interstate law. Among his notable opinions were those construing the interstate commerce and the anti-trust acts, both his decisions being affirmed by the U.S. supreme court, which accepted his views in their entirety. On Feb. 4, 1893, President Harrison appointed him associate justice of the U.S. supreme court to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Justice L. Q. C. Lamar. In the short time that he was on the supreme bench he delivered an unusually large number of important opinions. At the time of the first bearing on the constitutionality of the income tax law, April 8, 1895, Justice Jackson was unable to be present because of ill health, and a tie resulted, but on the second hearing on May 6, 1895, he was present and voted in favor of the tax. In the meantime Justice Shiras had reversed his former position and the statute was annulled. Justice Jackson was twice married: first, in 1859, to Sophia Malloy, of Memphis, Tenn., who died in 1873, and secondly, in 1876, to Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Gen. William G. Harding, of Belle Meade. He died at his home, West Meade, Tenn., Aug. 8, 1895.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

William Hicks Jackson, soldier, was born in Paris, Tenn., Oct. 1, 1835; son of Dr. Alexander and Mary W. (Hurt) Jackson, natives of Halifax county, Va., who removed to Paris, Tenn., and thence to Jackson, Tenn. Two children of this marriage reached manhood, Justice Howell Edmunds Jackson and Gen. William Hicks Jackson. William was graduated from the U.S. Military academy in 1856, and was assigned to the mounted rifles. He served in the cavalry school at Carlisle, Pa., 1856and served subsequently on the plains. While on scouting duty he participated in the campaign with the Kiowa Indians, taking a prominent part in the battle near Fort Craig, N.M., Dec. 7, 1857. He also participated in the Navahoe campaign in 1859 and in the Kiowa and Comanche expeditions in 1859-60. He resigned from the U.S. service, May 16, 1861, on learning of the outbreak of hostilities between the North and South, and running the blockade at Galveston, returned to Tennessee, and was appointed a captain of artillery in the state secession forces by Governor Harris. He organized a light battery at Columbus, Ky., with which he reported to General Pillow, of whose staff he was made a member, serving in Missouri and Kentucky. At the battle of Belmont, Nov. 7, 1861, he led three regiments of infantry in a reconnoiter and gained the rear of Grant's army. This movement caused the rout of the Federal forces and gained for him the rank of colonel. During the battle he received a minie ball in the right side, and he was reported to be fatally wounded. On his recovery after several months in hospital, he was placed in command of the cavalry operating in West Tennessee and in North Mississippi, and he led the brilliant dash on Holly Springs, Miss., Dec. 20, 1862, which resulted in the capture of 1800 infantry, many cavalry, valuable stores, and General Grant's private papers, and necessitated the abandonment of the land campaign against Vicksburg. For this service be was promoted brigadier-general. He was next placed in command of the second division of cavalry in Tennessee, under General Van Dorn, and he carried out the movement which resulted in the capture of Colonel Coburn's Federal brigade of 1600 infantry on March 15, 1863. General Jackson joined Gen. Joseph E. Johnston at Canton, Miss., in the fall of 1863, and commanded the cavalry in the movement for the relief of Vicksburg. At General Johnston's request he was transferred to the Army of Tennessee, and commanded the cavalry on the left wing during the Georgia campaign. He defeated Kilpatrick at Joy's Station and captured 1500 Federal cavalry at Newnan, Ga. He joined General Hood in the campaign of Tennessee, and his division led the advance in the pursuit of General Schofield as far as Spring Hill, where he held the Federal force at bay, but as he was not supported as planned by Gen. Hood, Schofield escaped. After the battle of Franklin, Nov. 30, 1864, in which his cavalry was operating on the flanks of Hood's army, he led the Confederate advance to a point only a few miles from the fortification surrounding the city of Nashville, and at Murfreesboro he drove the Federal forces within their intrenchments. His division covered the retreat of Hood's army toward Atlanta, and after the fall of Atlanta he held the road to Macon against the advance of Sherman's army. He then commanded a division in Forrest's cavalry corps in opposing Wilson's raid through Alabama and Georgia, March 22 to April 20, 1865, and he defeated the Federal force under Generals Croxton and McCook, and finally surrendered at Gainesville, Ala., May 9, 1865. At the close of the war he became interested in stock raising and cotton planting. He was married, Dec. 15, 1868, to Selene, daughter of Gen. W. G. Harding, of Belle Meade, Tenn., and assisted his father-in-law in the management of the farm. He was the founder of the Rural Sun, an agricultural journal; was the organizer and first president of the National Agricultural congress; president of the state bureau of agriculture, 1871-75, and fiscal agent of the bureau. In September, 1898, President McKinley invited him to become a member of the commission to investigate the workings of the war department, but he declined. He died in Belle Meade, Tenn., March 30, 1903.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

James Davis Porter, governor of Tennessee, was born in Paris, Tenn., Dec. 7, 1828; son of Dr. Thomas Kennedy and Geraldine (Horton) Porter; grandson of William and Hannah (Kennedy) Porter and of Josiah and Nancy (White) Horton, and a descendant of John Porter of Warwickshire, Eng., who settled in Massachusetts in 1628, and in Winsor, Conn., in 1639. James Davis Porter was graduated from the University of Nashville, A.B., 1846, A.M., 1849, studied law in the office of Gen. John H. Dunlap and at Cumberland university, Lebanon, Tenn., and in 1851 settled in practice in Paris, Tenn., where he was married June 17, 1851, to Susanna, daughter of Gen. John H. and Marietta (Beauchamp) Dunlap. He served in the state legislature, 1859-61, where he was the author of the famous "Porter Resolutions" passed in 1861, pledging Tennessee to co-operate with the seceding states if force was resorted to by the Federal government. He served as adjutant-general to Gen. Gideon J. Pillow at Memphis for one month, and aided in organizing the provisional army of Tennessee. He then joined the staff of General Cheatham, and served as his chief of staff to the close of the war. He took part in the battles of Belmont, Shiloh, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, the siege of Atlanta, and the battles of Jonesboro, Franklin, Nashville, and Bentonville. He was a delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1870; judge of the 12th judicial circuit of Tennessee, 1870-74, and was elected governor of Tennessee by the Democratic party, serving two terms, 1875-79. He was president of the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis railroad company, 1880-1884; assistant secretary of state of the United States, 1885-87, and U.S. minister to Chili, 1893-95. He became first vice-president of the Tennessee Historical society, re-elected at the annual meeting in 1902; a trustee of the Peabody Education fund from 1883, and president of the board of trustees of the University of Nashville, 1890, having been a member of the board for many years before his election as president. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of Nashville in 1877. He was chairman of the Tennessee delegation to the Democratic national convention of 1880 and 1892. He devoted the latter part of his life to farming, and was elected president of the Peabody College for Teachers and chancellor of the University of Nashville in 1901. He is the author of: The Military History of Tennessee, War of 1861-65, published under the direction of the Confederate Veterans' association.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor