My Genealogy Hound

George A. Fain was born in Dandridge, Tenn., November 12, 1832, and is the son of John and Amelia (Gillespie) Fain. During the Inquisition and persecution in France, about 1685, a family by the name of Fain fled for safety to Ireland, one of whom, Nicholas, married Elizabeth Taylor, an English lady, about 1752, and soon afterward immigrated to Pennsylvania, North America, and thence to Washington County, East Tenn. To them were born eight children, five of whom were in the American army and served in the Continental war, and were at the battle of King’s Mountain, viz.: Samuel, John, William, Thomas and Reuben, the latter being but sixteen years of age. Nicholas, the grandparent, was an ardent, religious man, and in Ireland belonged to the High Church of England, and to the Baptist Church in Tennessee, and his descendants, of the upper part of Tennessee, were mostly Presbyterians. John, the father of our subject, was born in Washington County, Tenn., in 1798. He early engaged in merchandising at Jonesboro, then at Brownsboro, Washington County, and in 1810 removed to Dandridge and continued merchandising until the time of his death, in 1852. He represented that county in the Legislature at an early date. The mother was born in Washington County, Tenn., in 1794, and was the daughter of Thomas Gillespie. She died in 1864. Both parents were pious, Christian people, and were members of the Presbyterian Church. To this union were born eleven children, of whom George A., our subject, is the youngest son. He was reared in Dandridge, and acquired his education in the schools of that town. He began business at the age of twenty as a farmer, and has followed that as a vocation through life, making a decided success of the same. He has always been a warm advocate of education, and has lent a helping hand to the advancement of the public schools of his town, and served for many years as a trustee of the Maury Academy of Dandridge. He was married in 1854 to Eliza R. Moore, who was born in South Carolina, November 10, 1834, and is the daughter of Col. William Moore, who, for a number of years, was a citizen of Tennessee, but was a resident of Ray County, Mo., where his daughter was married. To this union nine children have been born, three sons and four daughters of whom are living. The children are as follows: Minnie, born in 1856, now the wife of Hon. George W. Pickle, attorney-general of Tennessee, who was born March 6, 1845; William, born 1858; Eliza, born 1860; Isabella, born 1862, died 1878; George, born 1863; Martha, born 1865, died 1867; Katherine, born 1869; Allie, born 1873. Both our subject and wife are members of the Presbyterian Church, of which he is a deacon. Mr. George W. Pickle’s father died at an early date. While a boy he joined the Rebel Army, and after the close of the war entered Princeton (New Jersey) College, and from that college went to Indiana and studied law under United States Senator Daniel Voorhees, at Terre Haute. His health failed him in Indiana, and he returned to East Tennessee and located at Sevierville and practiced in the adjoining counties. He next removed to Newport, and then to Dandridge. He was appointed attorney-general of Tennessee by the supreme court in 1886, over a large number of competitors, among whom were Messrs. Ingersoll and McConnell.