My Genealogy Hound

J. E. Freeman’s birth occurred in Nottoway County, Va., in November, 1828, and of a family of five children he and his sister, Mary A. (Mrs. J. P. Wood), are the only ones living. Their parents, William H. and Lucy J. Freeman, were born in North Carolina and Virginia, in 1793 and 1800, and died in 1842 and 1869, respectively. They were married in Virginia and came to Tennessee in 1836, being among the early settlers of Weakley County. The father was a farmer and a soldier in the war of 1812. Our subject received an academical education, and in 1858 married Portia J., daughter of Dr. Samuel Allen. She was born in 1838 and died in 1868, leaving four children: Virginia M. (Mrs. W. R. Harris), Nola, Johnnie and James V. Mr. Freeman resided in Dresden until 1861, when he purchased a farm near Gardner’s Station, where he has since resided. He owns 482 acres of land. December 15, 1875, he married Elizabeth Rast, who was born in South Carolina in 1850. They have five children: Tilden C., Marvin R., Annie I., Newell C. and Otis W. He served as tax collector and deputy sheriff for some time, and then engaged in merchandising and tobacco dealing. He was magistrate of Dresden, and has served one term since coming to the Third District. He is a Democrat and a member of the Masonic and I. O. O. F. fraternities. His wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Freeman is a man of strong constitution, and for twenty-seven years after marriage there was not a single day that he was unable to attend to business. He is of very temperate habits, and has not tasted liquor of any kind for nearly forty years.