The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1910-09-29
BORN IN THE
MOUNTAINS
FOUGHT AGAINST POVERTY
Is Truly Self-Mode-Man and All
F. Tennesseans Have Reason
to Be Proud Of the Product


the mountains of Oocke county July 6,
1856. Ho is the son of J. j. Penland,
and one of thirteen children reared on
a small mountain farm in that county.
His father was poor man, and not
able to educate him, and at the age of
twenty he was given his freedom and
told TO seek his fortune as best he could.
He first earned some money and went
to school at Parrottsville one term.
Then he went year at Mosheim,
Greene county, where he aad DR.. r. q
Smith kept bachelors hall in the
"Shack Row. Of thlt quaint little
town. He then taught a school in
Cooke cc"Ntv, "nd then, with frirnd,
went to NpnE,iv,ile, n. c., where he
spent two years in Weaverville col
lege, living in camp-meeting tent
and doing his own cooking and house
keeping. Here Mr.. Penland took two
gold metals, one for excellence in Latin
and Greek and one for oratory. He then
went to Grant university, at Athens,
Tenn, where he graduated with hon
ors in 1880, in a large class, one of
whom was DIR. Il. j. Cook, of the NJ
r. church. Before his graduation day,
he WAS appointed to cnumerate the
census in his home district, in Cooke
nlC aln nj
pal of Parrottsville high school the
same year, and after teaching three
years, and paying up his school debts,
in the year 1883 he went to SEWER
vile, in Sewer county, and entered the
law office of Pickle & Turner, where
he studied law and was admitted to
practice In the year 1885. He has ever
since remained there and followed his
profession, where he became one of
the ablest and most successful lawyers
in East Tennessee, having been con-
nected with many noted cases and
trials.
Mr.. Penland has always taken an
active part in politics, having partici-
pated in every campaign since 1880,
when Garfield was elected president.
No man of his age has done more cam
paign work for the republican party
than has Mr. Penland.
In 1883 he was elected to the state
senate from the then third senatorial
district, composed of the counties of
Cooke, Hamblen, Jefferson and Sewer,
and reelected in 1890 and 1892, and
then voluntarily retired. In 1900 he
was appointed census supervisor for
the second congressional district, and
the duties of the office mos
acceptGbly TO the government.
lie was presidential elcctor for the
second congress 'ional district in 1900,
and in 1904 was again called upon to
fiji the same position for the first con-
gresSional district. In the same year,
1904, he WAS appointed assistant United
States attorney to Gen. Will ID, Wright,
United States attorney for the eastern
district of East Tennessee, and lin De-
cemher, 1905, he was appointed United
States district attorney for the same
and served III that office about |
four and one-half years, having made |
Dne of the best records of any district |
attorney in the United States, accord
ing TO the official records in Washiag- |
Ton. He was not reappointed to this
office, but was offered by President
Taft the attorney generalship of Porto
Rico, the next highest office in the
government of Porto Rico, but for
reasons satisfactory General Penland
lid not accept this honorable position.
Mr.. Penland was unanimously elect
ID permanent chairman of tho guber-
latorial convention at Nashville last
month, which was the largest and
most important convention ever he'd
n the state.
Soon after this Gen Wickersham,
Ittorney general of the United States,
appointed General Penland special
Assistant United States attorney gem
raj for the eastern district of Tennes-
ee to assist Gen. James b. Cox in the
81 case against the Coca
Joal Co., of Atlanta, Ca, which was
,reat compliment to his ability as
awyer, as the case is against ono of
he wealthiest corporations of the
,outh, and regarded of great import
nee to the government.
Gen. Penland has always taken
i'm stand for temperance. He can
assed his county for the constitu.
ional temperance amendment in 1887,
nd supported and worked for temper
nee legislation when he was a men,
or of the state senate. He introduced
! that body the first bill ever offered
} extend the original four-mile law to
towns. This was in 1889,
nd while the bill did not become a
Nv at that time, his efforts bore fruit
/ the passage of like measure at a
ater session.
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