Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1886-09-04


An extract from the Chronicles forthcoming
book. picturesque Clarksvilie."
The territory Of Tennessee was ceded
to the Federal government by North
Carolina, and many OF its early settlers
were immigrants from that State, and
among them were the ancestors OF
John Ford House. His father, a lad
at the time, grew to manhood in Viii
Hanson county, Tennessee, and mar
ried Margaret S. Warren, descendant
ofa prominent family of Virginia-the
Dabneys-whose religious faith was
Presbyterian, having furnished one or
more noted ministers to that church.
Some years after the death Of his IA
ther, his mothers intermarried with
Willis G. Jones, of Williamson coun-
ty. She survives to an octogenarian
age in the immediate neighborhood
where her life has been passed, and to
the home OF this venerable matron on
whom, by the death OF his father when
he was quite young, the rearing of the
subject OF this sketch was devolved, her
devoted son takes time from his busy
life to make frequent dutiful pilgrim
ages OF esteem and affection. At the
Williamson county homestead he was
born, January 8, 1927. The basis OF
his education was acquired under the
tuition OF Edwin Paschall, man OF
genuine culture and superior talents,
with remarkable aptitude for his pro-
fession. He had many pupils who be-
came successful men in various pursuits.
He lived to witness such results, and
spoke. OF them with pride, and not least
of the success Of this pupil, whose dis
tinction entities him to mention in this
work. Leaving the academy Of Pischall
young House entered Translyvania
University, near Lexington, Kentucky,
but did not complete its curriculum
for graduation, his preparatory educa-
ton terminating at the close OF the jun
ior year.
The Strengthened circumstances which
compelled him to leave his college
course unfinished, required him also
before the attainment Of his majority,
to prepare himself for calling for sup
port, and with this view, he entered
the law Office of Campbell & McEwen,
OF Franklin, Tennessee. Here, for a
few months, necessarily without much
helpful instruction, he plodded his
weary way through the intricate pages
of Blackstone and Kent, at times quite
discouraged. The Lebanon aw,school,
afterward SO famous seat of legal
learning, was, at that time, newly open
ed, and he betook himself thither, and
soon, under the systematic and erudite
teaching Of Profs. Caruthers and Green,
he was stimulated with increased zeal
in his chosen profession, and became
a devoted and favorite student, espec.
tally Of the former. The necessity fol
immediate exertion for livelihood
forced him to leave that institution be.
fore its entire course of study was com.
pleted, but owing to his great prof.
cheney, the faculty awarded him the
full honors of finished course, ant
conferred mis- diploma upon him ir
1850. An oration, pronounced as 6
representative OF one of the literary
societies OF that school, was regarded al
an extraordinary effort, and laid thu
| foundation OF the reputation which ha
since been so fully sustained at .the 70
rum, on the hustings, and in Congress
To have endured the critical acumen Q
Judges Caruthers and Green, by whom
it was highly praised, it must have "a
ted far above the pyrotechnic rhetori
customary with undergraduates. In
deed, it became a tradition OF tn
school.
Immediately after leaving the la
school he opened law Office in Frank
lin, Tennessee, but remained only
few months. In January 1851, he ma
ried Julia f. Beech, a native of th
same county with himself--a daughte
of Mr.. L. B. Beech, a prosperous farme
of that region, whose wife was Mi
Greenshaw. from Virginia. Mr.
House Twas educated at the Nashvill
Female Academy, in the palmy da!
Of that renownedkchool. Their unic
, has been blessed with one child onl
which died in infancy. At the time
bis marriage, he was newly settled
CIarknv4fla TanuaaeQe in fha r1racfi,