My Genealogy Hound

REV. JOSEPH HART STRAYHONE, a well-known farmer and influential citizen of Maury County, Tenn., and a native of Orange County, N. C., was born October 12, 1821, son of Daniel and Penelope (Berry) Strayhone. The father of our subject was also born in Orange County, N. C., and came to Tennessee in 1822. He located on a farm in Maury County and lived there until his death, which occurred in 1824. He was a worthy member of the Presbyterian Church. The mother was born in North Carolina, and was also for many years a member of the Presbyterian Church. In later years she became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Her death occurred in 1848. Our subject passed his youthful days in aiding his father on the farm. January 6, 1843, he wedded Mary C. Aikins, a native of Maury County and the daughter of John Aikins. The fruits of this union were the following children: Nellie C., John Alison, Jennet E. and William Bascom. In March, 1859, Mrs. Strayhone died; she was an excellent woman and a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In September, 1859, our subject took for his second wife Olevia A. Mullins, a native of Bedford County and the daughter of Rev. William Mullins. This second union resulted in the birth of two children: H. Elizabeth B. and William D., both living. In 1852 Mr. Strayhone became proprietor of a tannery in Lawrence County, which business he successfully managed for twenty years. In 1861 he enlisted as a private in the Confederate Army, in the Forty-eighth Tennessee Regiment Volunteer Infantry, to serve as chaplain. He participated in the battles of Richmond and Perryville, Ky., and was honorably discharged at Shelbyville, Bedford County, in 1862. He immediately returned to Lawrence County and resumed the tannery business. He received a good education in the schools of Maury County, and has been, politically, a life-long Democrat. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and has been a minister of the gospel since 1849. He is also a member of the Tennessee Conference, joined that body in 1868, and had traveled as itinerant preacher three years previous to joining the conference. He has a farm of 157 acres, and is a member of the Masonic fraternity.