People
Biographical Sketches: B Surnames
Samuel B. Boyd
Samuel B. Boyd, chief of Knoxville Fire Department; born Washington Co., Va., March 20, 1865; Scotch-Irish descent; son of Samuel B. and Isabella (Reed) Boyd; father's occupation, merchant; educated University of Tenn., member of class of 1886; in early life he was engaged in furniture business; married Julia Jackson HarrisonApril 28, 1904; entered public life as Alderman when he was 22 years old which office he held from July, 1888-90; Feb. 23, 1900, was elected chief of Knoxville (Tenn) Fire Dept., when it was very small (29 men); he urged and secured passage of appropriate measures before Board of Aldermen, which resulted in increase of Fire Dept. to 72 men; member of Elks, Royal Arcanum, Kappa Sigma Fraternity; former Chairman of Water Committee, Gas and Public Lights, Fire and Police, Vice Chairman Finance Com.; member of International Assn. of Fire Engineers; member Presbyterian church, South. Source: Who's Who in Tennessee: A Biographical Reference Book of Notable Tennesseeans of To-Day (Memphis, Tennessee, Paul & Douglass Company, 1911), 213.
H. L. Bradley
H. L. Bradley, dealer in wall paper and shades, was born in Knox County April 27, 1827. He was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. He came to Knoxville in 1848, and here learned the carpenter's trade, at which he worked until 1855, and then went in the car shops, being boss of the wood work of the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad. He continued at this business until 1864, when he began merchandising in a general way, continuing until 1876, when he changed his line of business to the present. In 1852 he married Miss Margaret C. York, of Knox County, Tenn., and the fruits of this union were eight children, five living - one son and four daughters. He is a Republican in politics, and for twenty-three years has been in business in Knoxville. By his own efforts and industry he has accumulated considerable property, and is now in comfortable circumstances. He was one of seven children, six now living, born to John and Malinda (Dowell) Bradley, both natives of Virginia. The father was born about 1772. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and a farmer by occupation. The mother came with her parents to Tennessee at an early day. Source: History of Tennessee (Nashville, Tennessee, Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1887), 922-923.
Lloyd Branson
Artist; born in Knox Co., Tenn., of English parentage; educated University of Tenn., and National Academy of Design, N.Y.; Democrat; has painted portraits of governors, judges, college presidents and private individuals, all over the South. Source: Who's Who in Tennessee: A Biographical Reference Book of Notable Tennesseeans of To-Day (Memphis, Tennessee, Paul & Douglass Company, 1911), 213.
Richard Gannaway Brownlow
Brownlow, Richard Gannaway, clergyman, journalist, governor, United States senator, author, was born Aug. 29, 1805, in Wythe county, Va. He was a methodist preacher and a journalist of Knoxville, Tenn.; conspicuous for his fidelity to the union during the Civil War; and was known as Parson Brownlow. In 1865-69 he was the sixteenth governor of Tennessee; in 1869-1875 he was United States senator. He was the author of The Iron Wheel Examined and Its False Spokes Extracted, a reply to attacks upon methodism; Ought American Slavery to Be Perpetuated; and Sketches of the Rise, Progress and Decline of Secession. He died April 29, 1877, in Knoxville, Tenn. Source: Thomas William Herringshaw, editor, Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography, volume I (Chicago, Illinois: American Publishers' Association, 1909), 465.
