My Genealogy Hound
Below is a family biography included in The History of Smith 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.
* * * *
Hon. W. R. Shaver was born in Sumner County, April 28, 1837. He was educated at the Three Forks Institute, Wilson County. He owns the celebrated Clinton College farm of 500 acres, which was in its day the alma mater of noted statesmen, and the finest college in Tennessee. He is president of both Farmers’ Association of Smith County, and the Agricultural Mechanical Association of De Kalb County. He is a stockholder and director of the Lebanon National Bank, and president and chief stockholder in the Lebanon and Trousdale Ferry Turnpike Company. His herd of thorough-bred registered shorthorn cattle, and other stock are of the best. February 3, 1861, he married Lou C. Newby of Smith County. Their three children were Lou D., Hettie L. and Annie L. The first two died in childhood, and the last in her sixteenth year, December 5, 1883, at Maple Hill Academy. In politics a Democrat, he was elected senator to the XLIV General Assembly, November, 1884. He has been Deputy Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, in Tennessee; Grand Lecturer of the same, and Grand Master of the Grand Council in Tennessee. At present he is Grand Representative of the Grand Lodge and Chapter of Virginia, and Tennessee, and of the General Grand Council of the State of Minnesota in Tennessee. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His father was born in 1813, in Sumner County, and was a farmer and carpenter. After his marriage, in 1839, and about two years in Missouri, he came back to Lebanon and bought 100 acres near there, and while carpentering died in 1846, from lockjaw caused by running a nail in his foot. Mrs. Shaver’s mother, Susan Sangford Shaver, was born in 1815 in Sumner County, Tenn., and died in 1881 in Benton County, Mo.
* * * *
This family biography is one of 62 biographies included in The History of Smith County, Tennessee published in 1887. The History of Smith 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 Smith County, Tennessee family biographies here: Smith County, Tennessee
Use the links at the top right of this page to search or browse thousands of other family biographies.