My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in The History of East 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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W. F. Park, a leading attorney and citizen of Dandridge, was born near Greeneville, Tenn., August 9, 1845, the son of James and Phoebe (Dobson) Park. The father was born March 4, 1809, near the same place, and is a son of James, Sr., a native of County Tyrone, Ireland, and who settled near Greeneville when it contained but two or three houses. He was a linen bleacher and weaver, and died at the age of ninety-eight. The father, James, Jr., is known as the champion rail-splitter of Greene County, having cut and split 100 rails, on one occasion, from daylight to sunrise, and then 300 more from prepared timber before breakfast, and at another time split 400 before dinner, and then rode seventeen miles to see the lady who became his wife. The mother was born in Greene County in 1812, the daughter of Thomas Dobson. Both parents were Presbyterians. Our subject was reared and educated on the farm, as the schools were there located, and March 6, 1863, he enlisted in Company F, Fourth United States Tennessee Infantry. He was captured at McMinnville October 3, 1863, and was paroled at once, and served through the war, being mustered out at Nashville August 11, 1865. The next three years he spent in Clear Springs Academy, of which his brother was principal, and Ewing and Jefferson College, in Blount County, of which his brother had become president. He began the study of law in 1869, and was admitted the following year. After a little practice in Greeneville he located permanently at Dandridge, and has a fine practice. He is also a farmer, and his farm is stocked with blooded horses and cattle, among them the only registered Holstein cattle in the county, also Percheron and Cleveland Bay horses. July 29, 1868, he married Mary J. Bonham, who was born in Blount County June 21, 1851. They had but one child, and its mother died in 1869. In July, 1872, he married Cordia, a daughter of James Mitchell, and born in Dandridge July 17, 1846. They have had two children. Our subject is an elder of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Lebanon, Jefferson County, Tenn., and his wife is a member of the Southern Presbyterian Church of Dandridge.

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This family biography is one of 938 biographies included in The History of East Tennessee published in 1887.  For the complete description, click here: History of East Tennessee

To view additional Jefferson County, Tennessee family biographies, click here

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