My Genealogy Hound

HON. ROBERT CANTRELL, judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, is a native of Warren County, Tenn., and is a son of Isaac and Nancy (Adcock) Cantrell. The parents were of English lineage, born in South Carolina in 1784 and 1790, and died in 1840 and 1872, respectively. He was twice married, his first wife being Bettie Cantrell. He was the father of eleven children, and came to Tennessee in 1816. Robert Cantrell, the seventh son, was educated in the pioneer schoolhouse and in the Fulton Literary Academy at Smithville, Tenn. After his father’s death Robert looked after the interests of the farm and cared for his mother. December 23, 1846, he and Martha Magness were married. She is a daughter of Perry and Mary Magness, and was born December 15, 1831. They have eight children living: Mary J., Kate, Harriet P., William M., Robert, Bailey, Minnie and Mattie. He worked on a farm until twenty-one years old, for some time as clerk in a store and afterward became interested in the dry goods business. About 1848 he abandoned this and began studying law. February 9, 1849, he was admitted to the bar, and is now one of the leading lawyers of Wilson County. In 1861 he enlisted in Company F, Twenty-third Regiment Infantry, and was chosen captain of his company, and was afterward elected lieutenant-colonel and in 1862 was tendered the position of colonel, and was assured he would have no opposition in case he became a candidate, but declined on account of ill health. He assisted in collecting stores for the quartermaster and commissary departments. He was captured by a scouting party in 1863, but was soon after paroled. Since the war he has been a resident of Lebanon. In 1858 he was elected to the lower house of the State Legislature and in 1860 was nominated for the Legislature again, but having no desire to enter into politics declined the race. In 1878 he was elected to his present position. He is a prominent and popular judge and today stands at the head of his profession. He is a Mason, and he and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He is a zealous temperance worker and has been ever since 1848, and says he will continue the war on whisky as long as it continues to produce crime, causes murders, makes widows and orphans, fills jails and alms houses and causes our helpless women and children to cry for help as against their oppressors — men who ought to aid as husband, parent and friend.