My Genealogy Hound

Dr. H. W. Tate, one of the leading physicians of Bolivar, was born March 14, 1840, in Burke County, N. C., and is a son of William Caldwell Tate, who was also a native of North Carolina. The father was of Irish descent and a graduate of the medical colleges at Charleston, S. C., and Philadelphia, Penn. He was a skillful physician and a prominent man. He married Mrs. Laura (Wilson) Polk, a widow with two children. By her union with Mr. Tate she became the mother of seven children—four sons and three daughters. The oldest son, J. W., is a grocery and commission merchant, and is doing a lucrative business. Robert A. is a practicing physician and J. K. a farmer. The mother was of English extraction and died in 1848. Her husband followed her in death in 1868. Our subject received a liberal education, completing the same at Davidson College, North Carolina. After a course of medical lectures at the University of New York he graduated at the Richmond Medical College of Virginia in 1861, and immediately afterward entered the Confederate Army as surgeon, in Stonewall Jackson’s command, where he continued until the close of the war. In 1866 he came to Bolivar, where he has since resided, engaged in an extensive and lucrative practice. He is also the owner of some valuable land and considerable means. In 1867 he married Fannie, the daughter of Robert H. Wood, one of the leading lawyers of West Tennessee and the granddaughter, on the maternal side, of Maj. John H. Bills, who was one of the original settlers of this place. Mrs. Tate was born April 13, 1848, and by her union with our subject became the mother of two children: Mary Lucy and Robert Wood. She is a worthy member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Tate is a Democrat in politics and an excellent man.