Samuel S. Ireland was born March 11, 1820 in Tennessee to Daniel Ireland and Margaret Cohorn. The 1850 Federal Census located him as a 29 year old male living with his parents and siblings in District 5, Robertson County, Tennessee. On May 27, 1855 he married Eliza Jane Barham, daughter of Thomas N. Barham and Elizabeth Perry.
Continue readingWilliam Lumb Benson, who was often called “Lum” was born Sept 1, 1852 in Marion, one of six children to Archibald T. Benson and Julia Ann Bower. His father, Archibald, was a pillar of the community being the first president of the town of Marion (before the Mayoral system), organizer of several churches in Williamson County and a Marion businessman. His parents were the donors of the property for the original survey of the city of Marion (the downtown square) and Archibald purchased the original lot where the old Bank of Marion now sits, soon to be the new city hall.
Continue readingMoses W. Barham was born in Sumner County, Tennessee December 21, 1825 to Thomas Newsom Barham and Elizabeth Perry.
Moses married Margarete Jackson in Sumner, Tennessee on March 6, 1848. By the 1850 federal census, they were located in District #5, Robertson County, Tennessee. Moses was shown as a farmer at age 24 and Margarete 23. They had one son, William aged 1, and a live in female aged 20 named Emily Jackson (likely a sister of Margarete’s.)
By the 1860 census, the family had relocated to Keysburg, Logan County, Kentucky and accumulated another son named Thomas, born in 1854. The family’s personal estate was considerable at $6,300. An unbelievable sum for the time.
Continue readingProbably one of the shortest lived city officials in Marion history was John Marion Young. John was born ca 1836. By the 1840 census, his unknown father had passed away leaving his widow Rachel, who appears to have died and left John and his five siblings as orphans around 1845 or 1846. After their mother Rachel’s death, John M. and his brothers William Wilshire Young & George Washington Young were farmed out as indentured servants to George W. & Mariah Binkley who then lived on a farm north of Marion which would later be platted as the village of White Ash.
Continue readingJohn P. Moore was born April 25, 1855 near Hopkinsville, Kentucky to George Nicolas Moore and Mary Gatewood. The family moved in his youth to Missouri so his father could carry mail on a star route assisted by his son. John recalled the time he was riding his route and Indians gave him a scare but left him unharmed.
He later moved to Marion and when 22 years old married Leona White, daughter of John H. White and Emily McCoy, in Williamson County on May 1, 1878, who died in 1919. They had one son named Clyde Holden Moore who died in 1936. Clyde’s son passed away in Washington, DC in 1942. On January 19, 1927, John remarried to Miss Mary V. Beckham while living in Washington, DC.
Continue reading