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Below is a family biography included in The History of Macon 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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V. M. Whitley, attorney at law at La Fayette, was born in Macon County in 1855, and is a son of Wiley A. Whitley and a grandson of Taylor Whitley, who was born May 8, 1796, in Nash County, N. C. The father of our subject was of Anglo-Irish extraction, born February 2, 1829, in Smith County, Tenn., and married Lucinda Chitwood, November 16, 1854. She was of Anglo-German descent, born December 16, 1835, in Macon County, and was a daughter of Charles Chitwood, who was born in what is now Macon County, Tenn., March 10, 1806. When Wyley was a young man he went to Macon County and settled in the Sixth District, where he has since remained on a good farm. He is a man of considerable influence and ability and is now serving his second term as magistrate of his district. During the late war he enlisted in Company D, Ninth Kentucky Infantry, as first lieutenant, serving in that capacity until after the battle of Shiloh, when he returned home on account of ill health. Sometime after he joined the Eighth Tennessee as wagon master and remained in service until the cessation of hostilities. Both he and wife are respected and esteemed members of the Missionary Baptist Church. Our subject was raised under the parental roof and educated in Concord Academy, Clay County; Red Springs, Bellwood Academy, and finished at Clementsville, in Clay County. He spent several years of his earlier life as a teacher in Macon and Smith Counties, where he gained considerable note as an educator. In August, 1882, he was elected to the office of clerk of the circuit court of Macon County, and held the position for a term of four years to the general satisfaction of the public. He refused to be re-elected, choosing rather to enter upon the duties of his chosen profession, having received his license to practice law in 1886. Judging from his past life he has a brilliant and prosperous future before him. He is one of the county’s promising young men, possessing rare abilities, keen judgment, temperate habits and a genial social disposition. Politically he has cast his lot with the Republican party and his first presidential vote was for R. B. Hayes in 1876.
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This family biography is one of 24 biographies included in The History of Macon County, Tennessee published in 1887. The History of Macon County was included within The History of Sumner, Smith, Macon & Trousdale Counties of Tennessee. View the complete description here: History of Sumner, Smith, Macon and Trousdale Counties of Tennessee
View additional Macon County, Tennessee family biographies here: Macon County, Tennessee
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