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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Samuel Watson Tindell, president of Carson College, Mossy Creek, Tenn., was born at Church Grove, Knox County, October 4, 1844, the son of Hiram and Mary (Harbison) Tindell, both living. Samuel, the grandfather, came from North Carolina in early days, and is said to have assisted in building the first store in Knoxville. The grandfather, Aaron Harbison, was also one of the pioneers of East Tennessee. Our subject was brought up on a farm ten miles north of Knoxville, on the Tazewell Pike. In the winter of 1862, while attending school three miles from home, he started for Kentucky to enlist in the Union army, but was overtaken by the parents of the other boys of the company, and persuaded to return home. In the fall of 1862 he taught his first school, and as he became eighteen at its close, and subject to the Confederate conscription act, he found it impossible to escape to Kentucky until the following February, to which time, from October, 1862, he lay in the woods, barns, and other places of safety, seldom feeling the warmth of a fire or seeing the inside of a house. On the night of February 3, 1863, he, with twelve others, started for Kentucky, but the deep snow and fear of being tracked, caused them to be ten days in reaching Somerset, Ky. After three months, he and his brother ran the blockade, and visited home until the following July, scouting in the woods. They returned to Camp Nelson, Ky., and August 14, 1863, he enlisted in the Ninth United States Tennessee Cavalry, under Col. Joseph Parsons. He was promoted to sergeant, and in February, 1863, was made captain of Company G, Seventh Tennessee Mounted Infantry, and July 27 following he was mustered out at Nashville. He now attended Walnut Grove Academy, and five months later went, with his teacher, to Franklin Academy, and three months later entered East Tennessee University. He took the first prize in Greek at the end of the freshman year; left there the following fall, and January 1, 1869, he went to Amherst College, where he entered the Sophomore Class. He was president of his class in his senior year, and graduated in 1871. He then taught high school at Upton, Mass., one term, and resigned and entered Newton (Mass.) Theological Seminary, and June 10, 1874, graduated. He was ordained by the First Baptist Church at Knoxville, August 2, 1874. He became principal of Franklin Academy, Jacksboro, Tenn., in August, 1874, and in October, 1875, resigned to become pastor of the Cleveland (Tenn.) Baptist Church for four years. He was principal of the Young Ladies Institute at Cleveland during 1877-79; resided on a farm at Rhea Springs during 1879-80; was principal of Franklin Academy during 1881-82; came to the chair of Latin and Greek in Carson College in July, 1882; became chairman of the faculty in January, 1883, and president the following spring. During the time of the small-pox at Mossy Creek, in the latter part of December, 1882, and in January, 1883, in the absence of all the rest of the faculty, he remained at his post, re-collected the scattered students in part, and, in connection with J. T. Henderson, then a member of the senior class, taught out the year, and saved the college from disbanding. Amherst College gave him the degree of A. B. in 1871, and A. M. in 1874; Carson College conferred the degree of D. D. upon him May 30, 1887. Lizzie E. Ames, of Sebec, M., became his wife June 22, 1874, and died at her father’s home, August 14, 1876. Lillie, born July 30, 1875, was the only child born to them. He married Katie, a daughter of John D. and Susan Chattin, of Rhea Springs, July 15, 1878. Their children are Lois, born September 15, 1879, deceased October 23, 1879; Pearl, born November 17, 1880; Susie, born April 24, 1883, and Samuel Watson, Jr., born February 16, 1886.

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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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