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Below is a family biography included in The History of Bedford County, Tennessee published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1887.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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GEN. ERNEST COLDWELL was born at Shelbyville, November 12, 1858. He was educated at Shelbyville and at Carbondale, Ill. After reading law two years in his father’s office he was licensed, by Judges Robert Cantrell and Peter Turney, to practice. In September, 1882, he was appointed special revenue collector, under A. M. Hughes, Jr. While a law student he was secretary of the Middle Tennessee and Bedford County Sunday-school Associations. He is a director in the Bedford County Agricultural Society, a director and secretary of the Bedford County Stock Breeders’ Society and Register and a director and secretary of the Eakin Library Society. He was appointed, May 21, 1881, on Gov. Alvin Hawkins’ staff, with the rank of brigadier-general. In 1884 he was elected Representative from Bedford County to the Forty-fourth General Assembly of Tennessee, overcoming a Democratic majority of 600 by 226 majority, he being a firm and outspoken Republican. His mother, nee Mary Henderson, was a lady of versatile accomplishments and of marked firmness of character. She was born in New York, was raised in Ohio and died in Tennessee in 1874, fifty-three years of age.

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This family biography is one of the numerous biographies included in The History of Bedford County, Tennessee published in 1887 by Goodspeed.  The History of Bedford County was included within The History of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford & Marshall Counties of Tennessee. For the complete description, click here: History of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Beford and Marshall Counties of Tennessee

View additional Bedford County, Tennessee family biographies here

View a historic 1888 map of Bedford County, Tennessee

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